A MOTHER and her two young sons were pulled from their blazing home by a courageous next-door neighbour.

Jackie Raisbeck, 24, today paid tribute to neighbour Peter Sutton, saying: "If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would have done.

"The fire brigade said if it had been two more minutes, that would have been it, and if the gas in the fridge had gone, the whole house would have gone up."

Jackie and the boys, Jamal, aged six, and Callum, aged four, were trapped in an upstairs bedroom of their York home after fire broke out in the kitchen.

According to a fire brigade spokeswoman, the four-year-old boy took a candle downstairs to fetch a drink.

But the youngster left the candle inside the open fridge and it caught fire.

When Callum realised what had happened he ran back upstairs to alert his mum and brother,but by then it was too late for the three to escape downstairs.

Peter Sutton, 26, who lives next door to the family in Burlington Avenue, Tang Hall, was putting his bins outside when he heard screams.

He said: "Jackie was upstairs, just screaming, so I went round and saw through the back door and I could see the fridge, or something, was on fire.

"I was trying to kick the door in but it wouldn't go, and she was shouting 'my fridge is on fire.'

"So I climbed up the front, on top of the window, and I pulled the two kids out and passed them down, and then I pulled her out - adrenaline took over really."

Mr Sutton, who lives with his partner, Julie Harris, and their two children, works at a furniture removal company.

He played down his part in the daring rescue and said anyone would have done the same.

But Miss Harris said the situation could have been much worse. She said: "Apparently she had been screaming for a while and no one had heard her.

"But the kids sleep above the kitchen and if they had been asleep when it happened they wouldn't be here today."

Jackie said: "I just wanted to get the kids out, and I couldn't find my keys.

"I was searching everywhere. I was trying to put the fire out and I just couldn't do it, and then all the smoke started coming up the stairs.

"The eldest one was in the bedroom. I don't know how I found the strength, but I just put him out of the window."

She said the fire had destroyed everything in the house, and the boys had even had to borrow shoes.

When fire crews arrived at the scene, the family was safely away from the blaze, although Ms Raisbeck had to be treated with oxygen.

Fire crews then put out the flames and spent just over an hour at the scene.

"The family are very lucky indeed," said a spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

"Their lives were already in jeopardy and it could have been a tragedy were it not for the bravery of the neighbour.

"It was a very unfortunate set of circumstances."

Updated: 11:04 Tuesday, November 20, 2001