FIRE crews rescued a mother and her three children trapped in a fire at their home in Oxford during the early hours today.

The incident happened at Lyndworth Mews, off Lyndworth Close, in Headington at 4.14am.

Officer-in-charge David Heycock said: "There was a crowd of worried residents gathered outside of the house and a lady was leaning out of the second-floor window with smoke drifting around her.

"She was frantic and hysterical and screaming that her children were in the building and she couldn't get to them because of the smoke and heat caused by the fire."

Crews smashed through the front door of the property and rescued the family.

The mother and her three children were all taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, for treatment for smoke inhalation.