Woman rescued from Portsmouth house fire with pet cat and rabbit

A woman has been rescued from a house fire in Portsmouth along with her pet cat and rabbit.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus from Southsea and Cosham used a smoke hood to lead the woman to safety from a terraced property in Monmouth Road in North End at 8:15am on Thursday (30 June).

The hoods contain a breathing filter which gives the wearer 15 minutes protection from smoke.

Station Commander Lee Sheen said: “Our crews did a great job in providing reassurance to the female occupant, who was apprehensive about coming out of the house via a ladder against the first floor window, so we used a smoke hood to lead her to safety.

“I also want to highlight the great work of our Control operators who provided fire survival guidance to the lady before the arrival of the first crew.”

Firefighters used hose reel jets to tackle the kitchen fire and a ventilation fan to clear smoke.

The crews also carried out community safety activity before the stop message was received at just before 9am.

An investigation is now underway into the cause of the fire.