A HERO who saved five people from a house fire has spoken of the harrowing moment he heard a woman scream as her house was gutted by flames.

The drama unfolded in the early hours of Friday morning when a serious blaze destroyed a property at 471 Cricklade Road and left five people – including three children - requiring hospital treatment.

Sean Baxter, 22, who lives nearby, was returning home from celebratory drinks when he heard a noise outside.

“I came through my front door just before 3am when I heard a woman scream. I thought it was a fox at first,” he said.

“Then I came back out to investigate and saw a woman with a baby in her arms standing up the road, she said 'please help me' so I ran over and got my mobile out. I was on auto-pilot the whole time."

Sean said he then noticed two other young children and a man with severe burns near the blazing Pinehurst property.

“There was a man with bad burns to his hands and arms, we were trying to help him by putting cold towels on his face and hands,” he said.

Brave Sean got the children to safety shortly before a massive explosion ripped through the house.

“We were trying to get the kids to the other side of the road because they’d only just woken up,” he said.

“The adrenaline was rushing through me, it’s only now I realise how bad the situation was.

“I saw smoke and then the roof set on fire and caught the next door house, it was getting worse and worse. Then there was this massive explosion and all the windows smashed. It was terrifying.

“We were banging on the doors trying to get everybody from the surrounding houses out. It’s only now I’m realising how big a deal it was.

"The house looks terrible.”

The five residents of the property were taken to Great Western and Southmead Hospitals for treatment.

A South West Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We received a call from the fire brigade at 2:58am on July 17.

“A female and three children were taken to Great Western Hospital for minor smoke inhalation. A male was taken to Southmead, which has a specialist burns unit, to be treated for minor burns.”

Access to Cricklade Road was closed in both directions as six fire-fighters battled for three hours to contain the blaze.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue confirmed the fire started in the kitchen but the cause is still unknown. It is not believed to be suspicious.

The fire caused a tunnel of flames to damage the next door-property and its residents were also evacuated.

Steve Lane, landlord of 469 Cricklade Road, was awakened by a call from his tenants after their roof caught fire.

He said: “I got a call from my tenants at about 3am saying, we think the house next door is on fire. They sounded quite scared and I got down there as fast as I could.

"They’re all now in emergency council accommodation and they’re all okay. I’m just glad the damage wasn’t worse than it was and that everybody got out okay.”

The Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is investigating the incident.

A spokesman said: “Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to the semi-detached house at 2.48am and found a well-developed fire that was affecting the whole of the property.

“A man, a woman and three children had escaped from the house prior to firefighters arriving and were in the care of South Western Ambulance Service.

“Most of the house has been severely damaged by the fire, in part because internal doors were either open or the layout was open plan - this meant that the flames were able to spread quickly throughout the home. The loft hatch was also open, which allowed the fire to also spread into the roof void.”