TWO home helps have been hailed heroines after dragging a pensioner from her blazing bed.

Council care assistants Jacqueline Stanley and Kim Nield battled through thick choking smoke to pull Mabel Franklin, 77, from her bedroom.

While Jacqueline ran to a nearby house to phone the fire brigade, Kim - an asthmatic - dived back into the smoke-filled front room of the house in Oaks Avenue, Bradshaw.

The 39-year-old carer picked the frail woman from her bed and was carrying her out of the house when her colleague arrived back.

And although Kim was later violently sick after breathing in toxic fumes from the smouldering mattress, both women returned to their shifts as normal!

Mum-of-four Kim, of Darwen Road, Bromley Cross, told of the pair's horror when they walked into Mrs Franklin's house only to spot smoke in the hallway.

When they opened the door of her bedroom they found the pensioner sitting on her bed which had begun to smoulder.

She added: "We could just see Mrs Franklin on the bed but I was scared what I would see when I went over in case she'd been burned.

"She's not a particularly big woman but she was a dead weight when I was carrying her out.

"When we were leaving the room I could see the flames had begun to take hold of the mattress.

"When I got out I was coughing my guts up and I just couldn't get my breath."

The women managed to find a seat for the elderly woman outside, and covered her with coats as firecrews and paramedics arrived.

And the story could have ended in disaster if the two women had kept to their original plans.

Jacqueline, 50, of Kingston Avenue, Tonge Moor, explained that they'd planned to go to Mrs Franklin's house 10 minutes later than they actually did.

She said: "I'd hate to think what would have happened if we'd done that. When we opened the door the smoke was choking and I don't think she could have survived many more minutes."

Fire chiefs believe a cigarette may have fallen onto the bed clothes and started the blaze.

Director of Social Services Andy Robertson praised his two employees: "I'm very pleased with the action that the staff have taken. They did exactly the right thing and we wish Mrs Franklin a speedy recovery."

She was given oxygen and admitted to the Royal Bolton Hospital. She is currently being cared for by staff at the Firwood House residential home on Crompton Way.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.