AN ELDERLY woman who was pulled from her burning bungalow has hailed her son a “hero” for rescuing her after a brave attempt to tackle the flames.Moira Bullivant's home was almost completely destroyed after the fierce fire spread rapidly from the rear of the property, filling the house with toxic smoke.

AN ELDERLY woman who was pulled from her burning bungalow has hailed her son a “hero” for rescuing her after a brave attempt to tackle the flames.

Moira Bullivant's home was almost completely destroyed after the fierce fire spread rapidly from the rear of the property, filling the house with toxic smoke.

She was woken up shortly after 6am yesterday by her son Mark after he had tried unsuccessfully to use a bucket of water to put out the flames in the family home in South Street, Risby, near Bury St Edmunds,

Mrs Bullivant, who has lived at the bungalow for 10 years, said the fire had left her shaken and she needed hospital treatment after breathing in smoke.

However, she insisted she was coping despite loosing all her possessions to fire and smoke damage.

She said: “I'm very proud of Mark. He was most concerned about me and the cats - he is my hero - I think he was brave to try and tackle the flames.”

Mr Bullivant, who was taken with his mother to the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, said: “I was awoken by the flames, I called 999 and I started to fight it but I then realised it was hopeless and I went to get my mum out.

“The TV was on fire and it spread very quickly - I lost one of my cats in there and I am quite upset. But I wasn't scared, it was as if time was slowing down but the smoke was very disorientating and I was bumping into everything.

“Now I feel lucky to be alive and I am going to take it day by day - I don't know what we are going to do now or where we are going to live.”

Assistant Divisional Officer Henry Landis, who led the operation to tackle the blaze, said the inferno reached temperatures of 600 degrees - hot enough to melt the home's aluminium window frames - and it took an hour for the three crews from Bury to deal with the flames.

Firefighters used hoses, breathing gear and jet hoses to bring the fire under control. ADO Landis said the home had a smoke detector but the device failed to go off.

The fire chief praised Mr Bullivant for rescuing his mother but stressed: “We would say to anybody in Mr Bullivant's situation to get out and call us.”

Fire investigator Karl Rolfe said he believed the fire had been accidentally started by an electric fan heater.