A woman was rescued from the floor of her burning flat on Saturday, August 7.

A bypasser phoned the fire service at about 1.45pm when they spotted smoke coming out of Bramshott Court in Surbiton’s South Bank.

A witness said firefighters, from Kingston and Surbiton, smashed the windows of the ground floor flat to gain entry and pulled a 59-year-old woman from a back bedroom.

The woman, named locally as Chrissie Brown, suffers from MS and is a heavy smoker, but it has not been suggested that cigarettes caused the fire.

According to her 94-year-old neighbour Lily Ringshaw, she had only returned to the flat about a month ago after it was repaired and redecorated from a fire three years ago.

Ms Ringshaw said: "I was sitting in my chair and I heard a bit of commotion.

"I looked outside and there were people hanging around on a wall and there was smoke just blaring out.

"She must have been terrified.

"I’m housebound now but I used to always check to see if she was alright.

"She never answered the phone, so I’d put notes through her door.

"I called the chairman of the MS Society because I was worried about her and he said ‘oh no, not again’.

"She smokes heavily and I can’t see what else would have caused it.

"The fireman apparently found her on the floor, so I wonder if she fell out of her wheelchair and couldn't get back in to it.

"She has only just come back from the fire three years ago. and now the flat is in an awful state. It’s gutted I hear."

She was taken to Kingston Hospital as a priority case, suffering from smoke inhalation.