A RESIDENT described the moment she realised the house was on fire and her friends were trapped inside.

Mandy Harris lives next door to the house which was gutted in the blaze.

After hearing screams and seeing the flames she immediately called the fire brigade and then started attempting to rescue the family.

“I was just nodding off to sleep when I could hear next door banging and I could hear Rosanne screaming ‘Somebody help me,’” said Miss Harris, aged 38.

“As I looked out of the window I saw the porch and the front door on fire and flames coming out of the window.

“I ran outside and rang the fire brigade. Roseann was with her daughter screaming for someone to help them, within seconds the whole place was on fire.

“I got a hose pipe and tried to put the fire in the porch out to give them an escape route.

“We then got their ladders and put them up to the window. A lad went up the ladder and got Roseann and her daughter out.

“Ben jumped from his bedroom window.

“Shaun would not wake up so we smashed the ladder through the window to wake him up and got him out.

“I thought they were all going to die.

“They were all black when they came out and the little girl could hardly see.”

The community was deeply shocked about what had happened and watched as police sealed off the area.

Many sat in their front gardens watching the police and fire service. One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “We just can’t believe it, nobody deserves that.”

Ron Frankum, of The Glade, said he heard a loud bang as he was going to bed.

“I looked out of my window and could see that the front door was on fire,” he said.

“My wife called for the fire brigade but by the time the crews got here the whole house had gone up in flames.

“Everybody was trying to get them out, and someone put up a ladder to try and help them. There was thick, black, toxic smoke pouring out of the house.”

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