Three Rescued In Coleraine Blaze Drama

There was high drama in Co Londonderry earlier this week as neighbours rushed to the rescue of people trapped by a house fire.

While the fire service was still on route, the three victims - who were upstairs in the blazing home - were saved by neighbours. They grabbed ladders and placed them against the wall as smoke billowed from the windows before leading the three to safety.

It happened at a semi-detached house in the town's Grassmere Court on Wednesday night.

Onlookers said that a 10-year-old girl Melissa Park had also played a key role in the rescue after she spotted a neighbour hanging out of a window shouting for help through thick smoke.

"I just heard people shouting for help and thought it was young ones carrying on," she told the Belfast News Letter.

"I looked up and saw black windows but I just thought the curtains had been pulled.

"Then I looked around again and saw a woman standing on the upstairs window sill shouting 'help, there is a fire'."

She ran and got her father, Ivan, who got out his stepladder.

"There were two sisters and one had a son of six or seven-years-old and they were trying to get fresh air through the upstairs bedroom window," he said.

"There was a fair bit of smoke in the house and they were all congregated around the window.

"I got out my wee decorating ladder and we got the wee boy out first and the two girls climbed out afterwards."

Mr Park also paid tribute to the Fire Service, who he said were on the scene soon after he had helped the three occupants out of the house.

"Obviously the girls had already phoned them before we arrived on the scene," he said.

A police spokesman said that early indications suggested that someone may have been trapped on the premises, "however, upon the arrival of Fire Service all persons were accounted for".

He said a young boy was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

"The fire is not being treated as suspicious," he added.

(BMcC/JM)