Hero Lucie runs into smoke-filled house to rescue neighbour

AN heroic mother battled thick black smoke to rescue her hysterical neighbour from a blaze at her Exeter home.

Brave Lucie Shaxton ran into neighbour Jackie Henley's house, in Lower Wear Road, Countess Wear, after being alerted by another neighbour who saw smoke billowing out of the windows.

The fire had started in the back bedroom of the two-storey house at around 4.40pm on Wednesday.

As the Echo reported yesterday, fire crews arrived within minutes of the alarm being raised.

But 37-year-old Lucie, a door supervisor at Mambo's nightclub on Exeter Quay, had already entered the smoke-filled house, where she found her neighbour collapsed on the floor downstairs in a hysterical state and suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Lucie was followed into the house by her daughter Stacie, 19, and the pair went upstairs to check there was nobody else trapped.

Lucie said: "One of my other neighbours knocked on my door and said there was smoke coming out of the house next door.

"I ran and out and Stacie came out behind me. I went into the house first and saw Jackie on the floor. I went upstairs to see if I could see where the smoke was coming from.

"We thought it was the attic to start with as that's where it felt like the heat was.

"There was thick black smoke everywhere and you couldn't see a thing."

Friends came out to help carry Ms Henley from the house before an ambulance took her to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.

Lucie said she did not think twice about running into the house.

"It didn't bother me. I just grabbed a towel and put it over my mouth and ran upstairs.

"I quickly felt the effects of the smoke though, it went right onto my chest.

"You only think about how dangerous it is after it's happened, but at the time I didn't think twice about it. I just wanted to make sure there was no one else in there."

Lucie's other daughter, Carrie, 15, described her mum as a "hero".

Ms Henley is believed to have been living in the house alone.

Neighbours have described her as a "quiet" woman who "keeps herself to herself".

A spokesman for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said the crews extinguished a fire involving the carpet and curtains in the upstairs back bedroom.

Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of arson following the house fire.

The 49-year-old woman was taken to Heavitree Road Police Station, in Exeter, where officers said she remained in custody yesterday.