The fire took hold underneath the staircase.

A woman had to be rescued after a fire underneath her staircase trapped her in her Tottenham flat.

The woman was trapped in her first floor flat, in Handsworth Road, after the fire took hold in the ground floor flat beneath her staircase just before 3.20pm yesterday.

Firemen in breathing apparatus had to rescue the woman, thought to be 45-years-old, by using the staircase in the converted terrace.

She was then given oxygen and taken to hospital as a precaution.

Tottenham fire station officer John Thornton said: “She was very happy to see us and even happier when we got her out.”

The fire - attended by two fire engines and around 10 firefighters from Tottenham fire station - was under control by 3.47pm. About 75 per cent of the ground floor flat was saved.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but it is not thought to be suspicious. The UK Power Network has been bought in to investigate whether an electrical fault was to blame.