A HEAVILY pregnant woman and her partner are settling into a new home today following their dramatic rescue from a blazing flat in Wellington High Street on Sunday morning.

Two other men – Vince Towers and Kevin Peake – were also rescued from the fire, Vince by climbing out of a second floor window onto a roof at the back of the building.

Andrew Mazur, who was sleeping on the first floor with his 36-week pregnant partner Janka, was woken by smoke just before 8am. He opened the door to the flat to find flames and smoke in the stairwell.

Luckily the couple, who are Polish and work at Swallowfield, were rescued almost immediately by firefighters alerted by someone living above the Wok Inn takeaway next door.

Janka, who is 28, was helped through a window by two fireman followed by her 34-year-old partner.

Andrew, speaking through a friend acting as an interpreter, said it all happened so quickly there was no panic.

He said he was more concerned about finding somewhere new to live and replacing all the baby clothes and equipment ruined in the gutted flat.

Malcolm Cook, fire and emergency support service coordinator for the British Red Cross in Somerset, said: "We were at the scene for five hours caring for the occupiers of the middle flat.

"The pregnant woman was very distressed."

The building was cordoned off for much of the day as police and fire officers, with the help of a specially-trained dog, examined the building to investigate the cause of the fire, but arson has been ruled out.

The flat on the ground floor, occupied by Angela Duve and her partner Dave, suffered only minor water damage.

A SEPARATE part of the large building was the scene of January’s assault on 63-year-old Keith Smith who subsequently died of his injuries.

Sgt Stuart Bell of Wellington police said the two incidents were not related.