The heroic, brave and lifesaving actions of the region's fire service have been recognised during a special ceremony.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service's annual awards were staged at County Hall, in Norwich, on Thursday, March 14.

With 750 years of service between them – awards were given to staff for moments of bravery as well as staff reaching milestones of 40, 35, 30 and 20 years with the NFRS.

However, many of the commendations focused on the incredible dedications officers displayed during a year of extreme and deadly weather conditions.

Stuart Ruff, acting chief fire officer said: 'It is a great pleasure to lead this service and this awards ceremony is testament and reflection that we have great, committed and hardworking individuals throughout the service with whom it is a pleasure to work with.

'We often can't leave the roles we play within the service behind and we take our work home.'

Jonathan Wilby, Charley Stringer, David Smith, Mark Trudgill and Gary Miller received certificates of commendation after saving a life during an incident in July 2018.

At this year's ceremony special mention was given to the service's response during the Beast for the East.

The heavy snow created a multitude of problems for the emergency service – as well as with getting to incidents across Norfolk; staff also faced challenges just getting into work.

The Control Room's Red Watch team went above and beyond, staying on shift for 39 hours and earned a certificate of recognition for their efforts.

Jonathan Rayner, Gary Palmer, David Minster, Robert Fuller, Adrian Pidd, Selwyn Davies and Connor Rayner were part of the team which trekked three miles over snow covered fields to rescue and stretcher a patient to safety.

And they were all praised for their tenacity.

Fleet Manager Barbara Coulson and Technical Support Manager Andy Dungar were also given certificates of recognition for leading their teams to ensure vehicles and equipment was maintained during the summer heatwave last year.

Area manager Tim Edwards added: 'The focus of any spate conditions is the front facing blue light response resolving emergency situations but behind the scenes many other of our colleagues work really hard to ensure that we support the response efforts effectively.'