A FRAIL 83-year-old woman was rescued by a quick-thinking neighbour from the first floor bedroom of her blazing home in Porlock Weir as flames licked from the front of the detached property.

Iris Hollington was trapped on a window ledge when retired teacher Mary Collins rushed to the next door house on Wednesday afternoon.

Just minutes earlier Mrs Collins had raised the alarm after seeing smoke pouring from the back of the building and hearing a faint cry for help.

"I was sitting at my computer in an upstairs office that overlooks the side of Iris's house when I heard a noise," Mrs Collins told the Free Press.

"It was high-pitched but quite faint and at first I thought it was a cat or a rabbit.

"I looked out and saw smoke and initially thought Iris had got someone in to do the garden and they were having a bonfire."

But Mrs Collins quickly realised the reality of the situation when she saw her neighbour, a former graphic designer, standing at the window of a top floor room.

"She was crying out but very faintly. I came downstairs, called the fire brigade and shouted to her that I was coming."

Mrs Collins grabbed a ladder and struggled with it down the many steps from her house and up the steps of the next door property.

"Very, very luckily three women walkers were coming along the road just at that moment and were able to help me.

"It was difficult to balance the ladder against the side of the house but fortunately they were able to hold it."

Mrs Collins climbed up and despite a gap of a couple of feet between the top of the ladder and the window ledge, was able to help Miss Hollington onto the top rung and guide her down to safety.

"She is very frail but luckily she was doing all the right things and trying to get out of the window backwards," said Mrs Collins.

"It looks like the fire started in the roof and fortunately she must have realised that the stairs had gone by this time so she didn't attempt to get to the ground floor.

"She was terribly shocked and a bit confused but otherwise unhurt."

Miss Hollington was helped to her neighbour's house and given a cup of tea while everyone waited for firefighters and an ambulance crew to arrive.

"I was getting worried that the fire would spread to my house so I was very relieved to see the firemen," said Mrs Collins.

"It had got so smoky that we had actually moved to sit on the steps of the church just nearby."

Paramedics took Miss Hollington, who was suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation, to Minehead Hospital for treatment and she was expected to be transferred to Williton Hospital yesterday (Thursday).

Firefighters from Minehead, Williton and Lynton were initially called to the incident, followed by crews from Porlock and Dulverton, a water carrier from Bridgwater, an incident support unit from Taunton and a command unit from Wiveliscombe.

The level of cover was scaled down when it became clear the property was not thatched as at first thought.

But firefighters took until 9.15pm to bring the incident under control - seven hours after the blaze started.

The house was virtually gutted, with extensive fire, heat and smoke damage to the roof - 75 per of which has gone - and first floor, plus severe water damage to the ground floor.

A spokesman for the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said the cause of the fire was still under investigation due to the unstable condition of the building.

He described the actions of Mrs Collins as "brave".

But she insisted: "It's just something you know anyone would do - you don't stop to think about it.

"I'm simply glad that I was actually there. I'd only returned from a long weekend away on Tuesday evening - I hate to think what might have happened.

"The most important thing is that nobody was hurt."