A BARELY conscious woman was dragged out of her burning home by firefighters who carried out a desperate search of the property on their hands and knees.

Visibility was so poor due to the smoke and heat that four officers crawled around a mid-terraced house in Brennand Street, Clitheroe, using their fingertips to search every corner of every room.

They found Mrs Denise Aghi slumped in the first floor bedroom at around 8pm on Friday.

She was given first aid by the firefighters and a Med Alert doctor before being taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

She is believed to have been released from hospital over the weekend.

Station officer Dave McGrath, of Clitheroe station, who attended the scene, praised his fellow officers.

He said: "It was an extremely severe fire and it was an excellent rescue by the firefighters.

"When we arrived we had an extremely well developed fire in a mid terraced property. The front room window had exploded out and flames were coming out.

"After talking to residents, we didn't know if anyone was in so we did a search. Four officers went in and searched the ground and first floor and found one female. She was barely conscious.

"It was extremely hot, smoke logged and dangerous. The officers had to do a finger tip search to locate her because the visibility was so poor."

He also praised the vigilance of Mrs Aghi's neighbours.

"One of the neighbours called the emergency services after seeing smoke come through the window," he said.

"We were there for two hours, but I went down the following morning to have a look at the premises and to reassure local residents, all of whom had smoke alarms.

"There was no smoke alarm in the house where the fire was. If a smoke alarm was fitted she would have got out sooner.

"Investigations are taking place into the cause but we need to speak to the lady we have rescued to see if she can shed any light on it.

"The fire seems to have started in the ground floor. The front room is badly damaged by fire and the rest of the house is badly damaged by smoke."