Assistant manager Cherie Hodgekiss’s father died when she was nine years old; the necklace contained some of his ashes.

Albury Central station officer Simon Huggett said the young woman had approached him in tears as he watched the fire engulf the eatery’s roof.

“She said ‘my handbag’s in there’,” the firefighter said.

“I thought ‘oh well — sorry’, but she was really distressed about it. So I said ‘is it that big a deal?’.”

Ms Hodgekiss then told Mr Huggett about the locket, which she had left in the bag because the employees aren’t allowed to wear jewellery while they work.

“I’m looking at the fire and saying ‘oh no, I’m going to lose this whole building — I’m not going to lose that locket’,” Mr Huggett said.

The firefighter found crew members Dale Gillespie and Roger Ghiggioli and explained Ms Hodgekiss’s plight.

The Hungry Jack’s roof had not yet collapsed and the walls were still standing so there was enough structural integrity for the pair to access the office where the bag had been left.

But the firefighters still had to battle their way through debris from the fire.

“They crawled through all the muck; everything had fallen down so they tunnelled their way into the managers’ area,” Mr Huggett said.

“They found these two bags and brought them both out.

“The locket was inside one of them; it made her day.”

Mr Huggett said the irony of rescuing the locket had not been lost on his fire crew.

“Our best save was some ashes,” he said.

Ms Hodgekiss said yesterday she had been advised by Hungry Jack’s area management not to comment to The Border Mail.

But she had earlier posted the following message of gratitude to the firefighters on her Facebook page:

“Cherie Hodgekiss Would like to say a big thank you to the Albury Wodonga Firecrew that attended the fire at work tonight and saved my handbag from inside. I am forever grateful to you all.”