A TEAM of brave nurses have rescued a family of four from their burning home.

The trio were making a late-night visit to a patient when they spotted a fire in a neighbouring house and raised the alarm, before helping a woman and her three young girls from the smoke-logged building.

Nurses Sara Spry and Barry Wanless, along with student nurse Kerry Donnelly, were visiting a patient on Gateshead’s Leam Lane Estate on Monday when the drama unfolded.

Mrs Spry, a 26-year-old from Lanchester, in County Durham, said they had been getting equipment from the car when they noticed a glow and saw a cooker was on fire.

She said: "Adrenaline kicked in: we knew we had to get whoever was in there out as quickly as possible.

"We knocked on the door until a woman came out with two children, carrying one of them.

"We took them to the car and put the heater on. It was a freezing night and the children were barefoot and in pyjamas.

"We also alerted a neighbour to get out because we were afraid the cooker might explode."

Father-of-two Mr Wanless, 43, from South Shields, then went into the house to rescue the remaining girl.

He said: "When one of the children said their sister was in bed I had to go in and get her.

"The smoke was quite thick and there was no-one in the first bedroom I tried.

"There was a little girl asleep in the next one. I shouted, grabbed her and took her to the stairs and told her to run down where Kerry was waiting".

Lorraine Lambert, chief executive of the South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, said: "They showed enormous bravery, without a thought for their own safety and their selfless act helped a family in great need".