A LUCKY family who were rescued from a burning building in County Durham have thanked the firefighters that saved their lives.

Mum Siobhan Stephenson, her two-year-old son Frankie and partner Tom Elder could have died if crews hadn't reached them in time to pull them from the first-floor window of her Bishop Auckland home.

Area manager and head of operations for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, Keith Wanley, commended his colleagues' "textbook" response and 21-year-old Miss Stephenson's calm handling of the situation which he said got them out alive.

Meeting for the first time since the blaze in the early hours of Sunday (May 15), Miss Stephenson said: "We just want to say thank you for saving our lives.

"We would have died if they weren't there, it's been pretty traumatic."

The Bishop Auckland College student and her partner were in bed at around 1am when they heard the fire alarm.

Unable to get down the smoke-filled stairway, Mr Elder made a 999 call and the pair were forced to retreat to the front bedroom with Frankie.

The toddler was then passed by Mr Elder to safety through the window and into the hands of a quick-thinking neighbour.

Crew manager David Welsh, who was first on the scene at East Parade, said: "I put a ladder up and climbed up and asked Siobhan - who was coughing and choking - to climb on but as I got her on, Tom collapsed on the floor.

"I got her down and went back up again to Tom who looked unconscious at the time so I started to shout and shake him to get him to come round.

"I had to man handle him to get him on the ladder and help him down."

Miss Stephenson, who had been living at the property for two-and-a-half years, lost all her possessions in the blaze and has been forced to seek accommodation in a mother and baby unit in the town.

And while 23-year-old Mr Elder has recovered and is living with his mother in Durham, he said the rescue was even more poignant for him as his father died following a house fire in 2007.

"We just want to say thank you," he added.

Speaking at Bishop Auckland Community Fire Station today (May 20), Mr Wanley said: "It's an excellent result. It's really nice to that the family have come in and I'm pleased to see they are safe and well."