A former US marine reserve, Monroe Schmidt, has described how he sprang to action when his neighbour's house caught fire in Sliema yesterday.

Mr Schmidt was asleep in his house in St Margaret Street when he was woken by the sound of breaking glass and neighbours screaming.

The glass came from the balcony of 86-year-old Mary Martin's house, who at the time was trapped inside surrounded by flames.

The Maltese-American former marine covered his mouth with a cloth and walked into the house. He tried to run up the stairs but had to turn back for gulps of fresh air a couple of times.

"After getting some air, I decided to crawl under the smoke. As I was in the house I was calling out ‘ma'am, ma'am' to get her attention but she didn't answer," he said.

He could not hear anything and was about to turn back when he finally saw her through the smoke.

He grabbed her and dragged her down the stairs. Mrs Martin, who lives on her own, did not seem to understand what was going on as she kept asking what happened.

Eventually, rescuers arrived and they intercepted the two half way down the staircase.