Two men were commended for their bravery during a mobile home fire that left a woman and her young son homeless.

Firefighters who tackled the fire said Jeff Harris and Julian Tomkin were very brave for dragging propane gas cylinders away from the caravan at the Woodland Caravan Park, Kennington, as flames took hold.

Station Officer Richard Williams, who was in charge of a firefighting team made up of crews from Oxford and Abingdon, said letters would be sent to both Mr Harris and Mr Tomkins commending them on their swift action.

Single mother Wendy Castiau stood sobbing as her new £28,000 home and family possessions were destroyed in the fire on Thursday night.

Mrs Castiau, 48, who had gone to a local shop leaving a candle burning inside her caravan, had no insurance to cover her loss. Fortunately, her son, Alex, ten, was playing with friends nearby when the fire started.

Mr Williams said: "There had been four cylinders connected to the caravan. It could have been like a bomb, but the two men moved them before we arrived.

"These men were very brave to disconnect them and move them a safe distance away.

"We know the dangers of candles which are left unattended and in a caravan, once fire sets hold, then it goes up very quickly."

Mr Harris and Mr Tomkins are modest about their efforts.

Mr Tomkins, 39, an assistant groundsman at Merton College sports ground, Oxford, said: "I started off pulling the bottle and then got a spanner to unfasten it. Then I turned my garden hose on the fire, but it wasn't enough."

Mr Harris, a 40-year-old father of four, who works as a crane driver for timber supplier Timbmet Ltd, of Cumnor Hill, said: "I'm no hero, I only did what anyone else would have done.

"It was well ablaze and there was not a lot I could do, but then I saw the gas cylinders and I was concerned they might be full.

"I covered my face, grabbed the bottles and threw them as far as I could.

"You don't think about it at the time, you just do it."