Quick-thinking Blackbrook residents leapt into action at about 8.30am on Sunday (March 14) after hearing desperate screams from the top floor of an end terrace on Billinge Crescent.

Several neighbours joined forces to pluck the trapped pair - named locally simply as Sue and Dylan - from the window of an upstairs bedroom by clambering up an 8ft step ladder.

The boy's grandfather, Andy, managed to fight through the dense smoke engulfing the open plan house before collapsing on the front garden.

One of the first to raise the alarm was neighbour Kevin Flaherty, 30, who spotted smoke pouring out of the rear of the blazing home.

He said: "I was just having a brew when I saw the smoke and my first thought was that our house was on fire.

"Only when I looked outside did I realise it was one of our neighbours' conservatories - and the flames were ripping through the roof.

"I ran around and the next door neighbour was up a ladder pulling Dylan from the window. Even though the ladder wasn't quite long enough I then went up to help lower Sue down to safety. They were both covered in smoke and struggling to overcome it."

Billy, 31, who lives next door to the blaze house, told how he heard "screams" coming from next door.

And Richard Kay, 43, of nearby Ashurst Drive, told how he sped around the corner to provide the step ladder used in the rescue.

He said: "The lady and her little lad were hanging out of the window trying to breathe in some fresh air and the smoke was really thick.

"I got the ladder from my van and the neighbours rescued them both. We all had to act fast. The firefighters said it could have been a tragedy if we didn't."

Paramedics, who sent two ambulances and a rapid response vehicle to the scene, confirmed that a man and a woman in their late 40s were taken to Whiston Hospital and a six-year-old boy was taken to Alder Hey Hospital.

All three were suffering from smoke inhalation.

A Fire Service spokeswoman confirmed that the conservatory was destroyed in the blaze despite the efforts of crews from Parr Stocks and Eccleston.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.