Firefighters rescued a woman from a fire yesterday after she collapsed in her kitchen and later got her puppy dog out.

Crews from East Ham and Stratford fire stations were called to the incident at a house in Rixsen Road, Manor Park, after a neighbour smelled smoke.

Watch manager at East Ham station, Gary Norris, said: “Fire crews wearing breathing apparatus and carrying water jets forced their way through the entrance once they had located where the smoke was coming from.

“They found an elderly woman collapsed on the ground floor in the kitchen. They carried her outside where firefighters did a sterling job of giving her emergency medical care. They administered oxygen, checked for vital signs of life and maintained her airways until an ambulance arrived.”

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance said they were called at 7.55pm to reports of a fire.

She said: “We sent a fast response car, an ambulance crew and duty officer and a hazardous area response team. The medical team from London Air Ambulance also arrived by car.

“Our staff treated a women and she was taken to Wipps Cross Hospital. A doctor from the air ambulance was with her in the ambulance.”

A second crew of firefighters also rescued a puppy dog from the upstairs of the house.

Mr Norris said: “The puppy can’t have been more than 12 weeks old. It was choking and very nervous, but started to feel better after we also gave it oxygen. A neighbour looked after the puppy afterwards.”

The fire damaged a large part of the ground floor of the terraced house but fire crews kept it from spreading.

The London Fire Brigade were called just before 7.35pm and the fire was under control at 11.38pm.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.