Unconscious woman rescued from flat fire

FIREFIGHTERS are being praised today after rescuing an unconscious woman and a man from their burning flat in Cromer Road, Southend.

A blaze after fire broke out in the stairway of the two-storey property just after 5.40pm yesterday.

The alarm was raised by a neighbour who put a ladder up to the window of the flat in an attempt to reach the couple, but he was unable to get them down.

Fire crews arrived on the scene and pitched a triple extension ladder and led a man in his 50s down to safety.

A woman in the property was unconscious and crews were unable to bring her out through the window.

Firefighters Lorraine Shearing and Aaron Campbell donned breathing apparatus and went into the burning building to rescue her. They found the casualty slumped in the flat and carried her down the stairs and out of the property to safety.

The woman was left in the care of ambulance service paramedics at the scene.

"It was a fierce fire and very hot," said station officer Barrie May of Southend White Watch. "The two firefighters that went in did a fantastic job without any regard for their own safety to rescue the woman inside.

"The fire appears to have been started by burning clothing in the stairway which obviously blocked the couple's exit."