FIREFIGHTERS saved the life of an 85-year-old woman after she collapsed during a house fire.

The woman, who called the emergency services herself shortly before 11pm yesterday, was found lying face down on the floor of her living room at a bungalow in Pickersleigh Avenue, Malvern Link.

She was unconscious and had stopped breathing.

Quick thinking fire crews used breathing apparatus to rescue her from the house and then used their resuscitation training to revive her.

Watch manager Saul Bolton, one of the first on the scene, said: "We didn't find out until we had got back to the station that she had placed the call herself.

“Control said that she was very calm, and they told her to get out of the house, but she obviously had some difficulty getting out.

"When we got there, we could see the fire in the bedroom, which was at the front of the house.

“We broke down the main door, which was at the side, with sledgehammers and two men with breathing apparatus went in and found her."

Mr Bolton and another officer worked to keep the women breathing, while other firefighters quenched the flames.

“By the time I left her she was coming around, opening her eyes, and the paramedics arrived and took over,” said Mr Bolton.

It is though the fire was caused by an old electric blanket, which had somehow switched on, overheated and caught fire.

“I would appeal to people with electric blankets to replace them after ten years,” said Mr Bolton, who also urged residents to keep an eye on elderly neighbours.

“They should also be stored flat or rolled, not folded, as that can damage them and cause them to short out.”

The woman was taken in by a neighbour until an ambulance crew arrived to take her to hospital.