Trapped woman rescued from fire

Sep 30 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

BRAVE neighbours plucked a stranded woman from her first-floor flat after a suspected arson attack sent flames tearing through her home.

Susan Lamb, 46, was left desperately screaming for help when an armchair that was waiting to be collected by the council was set alight outside her home on Banff Street, in Town End Farm, Sunderland, just after midnight yesterday.

The fire quickly spread inside her porch and blocked her only escape route from the property.

Two nearby homeowners came to her rescue when they heard her screams and propped a ladder up to her window before guiding her to safety.

The flames spilled from the roof of the porch and licked at Ms Lamb’s bedroom window, causing damage to her house and the home of her next-door neighbour.

Last night, Ms Lamb said she owed her life to her rescuers and said she thought she was going to be burned alive.

She said: “I was just reading and watching television and I noticed the flames outside my window. I quickly jumped up and dialled 999 and I was saying, ‘Hurry, my flat’s on fire and I’m stuck inside’.

“I opened the window and I was shouting, ‘Please, someone help me’. I was terrified, I thought I was going to be burned alive, and if I hadn’t got out I would have been finished.

“The neighbours saved my life, they are heroes to me.”

When they heard Ms Lamb’s screams, Terry Swansborough, 44, ran to her house while retired Thomas Johnson, 64, fetched a set of ladders.

Without shoes and a shirt, Mr Swansborough scaled the ladders in only a pair of jeans, before he pulled her from the flat and guided her to safety.

Last night he said the whole dramatic incident was a blur and he had acted on instinct.

He added: “I just ran out in my jeans without shoes or a shirt. I didn’t care because all I wanted to do was help her.

“She was in absolute shock. I don’t really remember anything after we got her out of the house but I knew she was shaking and she was terrified.”

Richard Hogg, 62, who lives in the flat below with his wife Gillian, lay sleeping in his bedroom just inches from where the fire was raging when the neighbours woke them and pulled them to safety.

From the opposite side of the road they could only watch as the dramatic rescue unfolded.

Mr Hogg, a retired transport manager, said: “She was screaming, ‘Help, help’. The flames were travelling round from the porch and were touching our house.

“It travelled really quickly and the fire had ferocious heat. I can’t thank everyone enough, and the fire brigade were excellent.”

A spokeswoman for Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue said: “A 46-year-old woman was given survival guidance over the telephone before being rescued by neighbours using a ladder. The occupant refused hospital treatment.”

I thought I was going to be burned alive. The neighbours saved my life, they are heroes to me