A MOTHER and son were rescued from a bedroom window as a blaze ripped through their home.
The 49-year-old and 21-year-old were taken to hospital after breathing in smoke in the blaze in the detached house in Nottingham Road, Lowdham, at 4.30pm yesterday.
The son, who called the fire brigade on his mobile, was given instructions to close the bedroom door and open the windows as the fire burnt through the staircase.
When firefighters arrived they rescued the occupants by taking them down a ladder from a bedroom window at the front of the house.
Firefighters also saved two dogs, two cats, more than 30 rats and ten snakes from the property. The snakes included eight boa constrictors and two corn snakes. The rats were all in cages.
Watch manager Andy Alton, of Carlton Fire Station, said the fire started under the stairs and it was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, although this is still under investigation.
He said the pair had a lucky escape.
"We decided the best way to get them out was by ladder because it was becoming obvious the woman was being overcome with smoke," he said.
The road was closed for about an hour while firefighters extinguished the blaze. The RSPCA was also called in to look after the animals.
Nottingham Road resident Mandy Meyer said she was having a cup of tea when her son Thomas, who had been playing in the garden, smelt smoke and raised the alarm.
She said she first tried to phone her friends who lived next door to the fire, but couldn't get through.
And when she ran into the street she saw two people being led to safety by firefighters down a ladder.
"It was very dramatic. There were a lot of firemen and police on the scene," she said.
"It was manic. People must have been panicking when they saw it."
She added that she did not know the people who lived in the fire-hit house but she believed it was a rented property.
Thomas, nine, said: "I was the first one to see the smoke. It was very grey and misty.
"There was smoke coming out of the house. It was shocking. A few minutes later, more and more fire engines and police came rushing in.
"Two people were rescued out of the window. I've never seen anything like it."
The affected house is next door to the one which Paralympic gold medal sprinter Richard Whitehead grew up in.
