A disabled woman trapped in a burning house was kept calm thanks to the actions of a worker at the fire service control room.

The distressed victim dialled 999 when food she was cooking in the kitchen of her home in Fraser Close, Shoebury, caught fire.

Confined to a wheelchair and panicking she was unable to get out of her home as thick smoke started to fill it. Recognising the woman's panic, controller Kim Collins kept the telephone line open and talked the woman through her ordeal until firefighters arrived.

One pump from the retained Shoebury fire station and one from Southend attended the blaze which was reported at 1.26pm on Saturday.

Sub officer Barry May of Southend fire station said: "All praise has to go to Kim in the control room. Actions such as this are so often overlooked.

He added: "The woman who was disabled and in her 30s had gone into a complete panic and could not get out of the house. The fire was out when we arrived but there was a lot of smoke.

"The victim's ordeal would have been so much worse if she had not had a voice on the end of the phone helping to talk her through it."

The victim was given oxygen by firefighters until paramedics arrived.

She was then taken to Southend Hospital where she was treated for the effects of slight smoke inhalation.

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