A woman was pulled unconscious from a blaze in her Southampton flat.

Firefighters carried out the dramatic rescue after fire broke out at the woman’s home.

They then performed performed life saving resuscitation before paramedics arrived.

The woman, believed to be in her 40s, was taken to Southampton General Hospital where she spent the night in intensive care.

Daily Echo:

Crews from St Mary's were called to the blaze in Landguard Road, in Shirley, just before 7.40pm and were on the scene within three minutes.

They discovered smoke issuing from the window of the ground floor and two firefighters used breathing apparatus and a thermal imaging camera to quickly locate and rescue the woman from the building.

Fire investigators will return to the property today to determine the cause of the blaze, but it is not thought to be suspicious.

Station Manager Rob Cole, officer in charge of the incident, said: "The speed of response of the initial crews in entering the flat and performing the rescue of the woman provided their colleagues with the best possible opportunity to try to revive her.

"The actions of the firefighters in performing emergency CPR before the ambulance crew arrived then also improved her chances of survival. Working closely with the paramedics, they were able to restore the woman's breathing before she was taken to hospital."

A total of 14 firefighters from St Mary's dealt with the incident and used one jet and one hose reel to extinguish the fire, which was out by 8.54pm.