NEIGHBOURS have described the harrowing moment a fire engulfed a ground floor flat and left three people and a baby fighting for their lives.

Emergency services were called to Manchester Road shortly before midnight on Sunday after a blaze ripped through a ground floor flat.

Five adults and a 16-month-old baby girl were rescued from the terrace house and given emergency medical treatment at the scene including resuscitation.

The baby, a 60-year-old man and two women aged 21 and 30 were yesterday in a serious condition in GWH, Southmead and Bristol hospitals.

A 13-year-old boy and a 23-year-old woman were also injured.

Jaime Bezerra, from nearby Haydon Street, kicked open the door to help get the residents out.

“It was like a movie, all you could see was black smoke and a man shouting that his wife was in there, it was so emotional,” he said.

“I knocked on the door and nobody answered, I kicked the door and it broke easily but I couldn’t get in.

“The firefighters were heroes, they were courageous, efficient — they saved their lives.”

Next door neighbours Joaquim Fernandes and Bernadita Almeida were woken up by the smell of burning and police sirens outside their front door.

“I heard someone shouting and screaming, ‘call the police’ and we got up. The police were banging on our front door telling us to get out. I saw a baby being carried out but I don’t know if she was okay or not,” said Joaquim.

“It was scary to see so much smoke, we were worried about the family,” Bernadita added.

Corner shop owner Ravi Arumugam raised the alarm.

“Someone came in yelling ‘there’s a fire, there’s a fire’. I went to take a look from my door and there was so much black smoke everywhere, it was coming out of the top floor window, just billowing out,” he said.

“Someone kicked the door in and I saw two people get dragged out.

“There were so many police around, I have never seen anything like it. I am praying for them, I just hope they are okay. The house looks terrible.”

Residents who were evacuated were given shelter in the Hazrat Shahjal Al mosque.They were allowed back into their homes at around 3.40am

Broadgreen Community Centre was opened up and used to provide shelter for 14 adults and children evacuated from neighbouring properties

Six Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue service crews – from Swindon, Westlea, Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade - attended along with Wiltshire Air Ambulance, South Western Ambulance Service and Wiltshire Police.

British Red Cross emergency response volunteers based at Swindon fire station also attended at the scene to offer support.

An investigation into the cause is still under way.

Group Manager Dave Jacomb, who attended at the scene, said: “This was a traumatic incident for all concerned, and I cannot praise enough the professionalism of both the attending firefighters and colleagues in Fire Control.

"We will be working with Wiltshire Police to try and establish what happened – in the meantime, crews will be back on Manchester Road over the course of the day to reassure the community and do follow-up home fire safety checks.”

Anyone with information asked to call 101.