When Llandovery firefighter Cathryn Moore went back to work after this summer’s wildfires, there were cards waiting from the children she teaches to swim.
The message on them, she said, was “thank you for saving our community”.
On Friday night the 19-year-old won the Young Leader award at the Child of Wales Awards.
The ceremony at Swansea Building Society Arena marked the awards’ fifth anniversary, with 700 guests.
Alongside her other jobs, she answers emergency calls as an on-call firefighter with Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
The awards say she is the youngest female on-call firefighter in Llandovery, and one of the youngest female firefighters in Wales.
She is not the only teenager on call in Carmarthenshire: Newcastle Emlyn’s Bobi Jones can leave his free periods at school when the alerter goes.
“That was the evening I learned women could be firefighters”
It started at six, when she went with the Rainbows to an evening at the fire station. “That was the evening I learned women could be firefighters. And ever since that day, that is all I wanted to ever do,” she said.
She joined at 18, and for a short time was the youngest female firefighter in Wales, she said.
More young women should follow, she believes, because “there’s not many young girls joining the brigade at the minute”.
As a little girl, she said, she “never thought a girl could help the community by being a firefighter”. Once she found out she could, “of course I’d want to be that and help my community in any way I can”.
Her first fatal call, within a month of joining
Within a month of starting, her crew was called to a cardiac arrest. The person did not survive, she said.
She had only just turned 18. “It was difficult, but in a way you kind of just work through it and you find a different kind of strength,” she said.
What helps, she said, is this: “You remember you gave them the best chance of life.”
Wildfires, the swimming pool and Llandovery Netball Club
This summer she supported the fire service through the wildfires, the awards say. In August a wildfire at Rhandirmwyn was declared a major incident, with Llandovery’s crew among those on the mountain.
Growing up in the town helps, she said: “I know everyone and I tend to know all the kids I teach.”
She is also a lifeguard, and plays for and coaches younger teams at Llandovery Netball Club, the awards say.
With her female teammates she recently came second in the tug of war at the Royal Welsh Show.
Dyslexia did not stop her passing the written exams needed to become a firefighter, the awards say.
“Work hard, be happy, and inspire others”
The award came as a shock because she did not know she had been nominated, she said, and she thinks her mum burst into tears.
She knows others could have won. “I’m very privileged to win this award. I’m sure there’s many others out there that would deserve to win it, too,” she said.
Her motto came from her own swimming teacher: “Work hard, be happy, and inspire others.”
BBC Morning Live presenter Gethin Jones hosted the awards for a fifth year. The night raised money for Wales Air Ambulance and the mental health charity Big Moose.
Neath dad John Jenkins, who carried his daughter Leah to the top of Pen y Fan, also won on the night.
So did Pontardawe’s Cian Evans, 11, who plans to walk up it 10 times in 24 hours.
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