FIREFIGHTERS rescued an elderly women from a Winchester flat after a discarded cigarette caught fire.

The woman, thought to be in her 80s, was led to safety from her second-floor flat at Richard Moss House sheltered housing in St Peter Street at about 4.40pm yesterday.

Watch manager Chris Roper, of Winchester Fire Station, said this morning: “The crews from assisted her to safety and got her an ambulance but she refused to go to hospital.”

He said she was allowed to return to her flat.

WM Roper said he understood the cigarette had ignited rubbish in a bin in a living room.

Ten firefighters from Winchester and Eastleigh with two wearing breathing apparatus, used a hose to quickly kill the flames.