Neighbours tell of Telford pensioner blaze rescue
[gallery] Neighbours today spoke of how they smashed windows and a door in a bid to rescue an Telford elderly woman from a house fire.
Dawn Podmore and her partner Keith Price had tried to help the woman, who is in her 80s, after being woken in the early hours by a "banging sound".
At first they did not realise the house was on fire and thought their neighbour, who they know only as Margaret, had suffered a fall in the night.
But as soon as Mr Price discovered the fire at the back of the house in Saxon Court, Leegomery, the pair threw a plant pot through a window and broke down the door in an attempt to free the woman in the moments before firefighters arrived.
Mrs Podmore, 50, a manufacturing worker for Denzo in Telford, said: "It was a banging sound that woke me up, I thought it sounded like someone was trying to break into one of the cars out the front.
"I listened and heard it again, so I got up and looked out of my bedroom window which looks out onto the street.
"I could hear somebody shouting so I opened my bedroom window and I could hear 'Help me, somebody please help me'.
"I could see the letterbox moving and Margaret shouting through the letterbox.
"There was no sign of fire or smoke or anything from the front.
"I woke my partner up and said 'Come on, it's Margaret, something has happened to her' and we both raced over there.
"We spoke to her through the letterbox and I said 'Margaret are you OK?' and she said 'No, I have been hurt, please help me'.
"I asked her if she had fallen down the stairs and she said yes. I rang 999.
"My partner went round the back to see if there was any way he could get in, but he soon came running back round saying the back of the house was on fire.
"He just picked up this big plant pot and threw it through the window, we also smashed the front door but we were struggling to get in to help her because of all the smoke. Just then the fire service arrived. I just hope she is okay."
The pensioner was taken to Princess Royal Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after the fire, at around 4.30am on Saturday. Her condition is described as serious.
The fire is not being treated as suspicious but investigations are being carried out to establish the cause.
Adam Matthews, of Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "The whole of the house was heavily smoke-logged and has been severely damaged by smoke and heat."
