A BRAVE mum risked her own life to carry a neighbour to safety after fire ravaged her home.

Mother-of-two Caroline Tennant helped drag the woman away from the burning house just moments before a window exploded, sending shards of glass flying across the garden.

The 43-year-old said: “It was like something out of a film - the flames were coming out of the window and reaching up to the roof.”

Fire ripped through the house in Oakdale Road, in Consett shortly after 8pm last night (TUES).

The householder, believed to be a woman in her 60s, suffered smoke inhalation and was dragged from the house by her daughter and a friend who were staying at the address at the time.

Ms Tennant was at home with her children Steph, 21, and Connor, 16, and went upstairs to finish some decorating when she realised the house opposite was on fire.

She said: “I went up to the bathroom and heard screaming coming from the street, so I went to the window and saw the lady lying on the ground outside the house with her daughter trying to pick her up and the flames coming out of the window.

“I came flying down stairs and asked Steph to phone for a fire engine and ambulance and then I ran over to help them pick her up and we dragged her away”.

As daughter Steph raced to raise the alarm with neighbours of the semi-detached property, the stricken woman was carried to the safety of a neighbouring driveway just before an explosion ripped through the house

Ms Tennant, duty manager at the B&M store in nearby Delves Lane, said: “You could see the windows were going to go, they were bevelling and cracking and just then it exploded. The window blew out and the flames were coming out of the window.”

Steph Wood added: “They managed to carry her to the end of the driveway - we just wanted to get everyone out of the way.”

Two fire crews from Consett and a third from Durham were sent to the scene to deal with the fire, which was put out within 30 minutes.

A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service said: “Our crews arrived and found the first floor of the house well alight.”

One woman was taken to hospital, but is believed to have been released this morning (WED) after treatment for smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is being treated as accidental.