A mother had to be rescued from her home tonight after a portable cooking stove exploded and caught fire.

Emergency services were called to a semi-detached house on Pettus Road, in Eaton, at about 8.40pm to reports of a person trapped inside.

They had been alerted by neighbours after thick black smoke was seen billowing out of the windows from the first floor of the property.

Two teams of firefighters went inside the house to save the woman, who was later taken to hospital for treatment.

The family had been redecorating the house and were having to use portable stoves to heat up food.

But the stove exploded when the mother was using it and set fire to the family's belongings. Steve Bond, crew manager at Earlham station, advised people not to use the outdoor cooking equipment inside their homes. He said: 'They can potentially be very dangerous and are best used outdoors.'