A WOMAN who dragged her screaming children from a ferocious house fire has thanked the community for rallying around in their time of need.

Lori Rainwater lost almost everything she owned when an unattended candle caused a blaze at her home in Wilson Street, Darlington earlier this month.

The 28-year-old and her three young children escaped without injury but the family’s beloved pet dog Nina perished after panicking and running back into the burning building.

After sharing her story in a bid to encourage people to install life-saving fire alarms, Ms Rainwater was inundated with support from family, friends and the wider community.

The team at Darlington’s Railway Tavern donated furniture while individuals and other organisations helped by providing beds, repairing domestic appliances, deep cleaning the property and washing soft furnishings.

Despite widespread damage to his property, the family’s landlord, Sean Currigan, has been a pillar of support.

Just a day after the tragedy, Mr Currigan found them a four-bedroom house in Darlington, meaning the children could stay in the same school and Ms Rainwater could keep her job.

Ms Rainwater said: “He’s the best landlord in the world and has been there every step of the way even though I burned his house down – he never moaned and just made sure we were ok.

“The support we’ve had has been unbelievable, you expect family to rally around in times of need but you don’t really expect others who barely know you to take time out of their lives, show up and help out.

“It’s been hard, dirty work as everything was fire damaged and without that support, I’d have been so depressed.”

She added: “I’m still grieving for Nina but she’s the only thing I really lost – it’s all been a huge inconvenience but we’re all alive and because of everybody’s help, we have a home with everything we need in it.

“People are shocked at how positive I’m being but my attitude is that we’ve been saved and there’s no reason to be down about it.

“I look around at this house and all of the things we’ve been given and it feels like this tragedy has led to us landing in a bed of roses.

“I always try to find the silver lining but if people hadn’t come together to help us like this, I’d be very depressed.”