A mother and her four children were pulled from a burning house after neighbours heard their screams for help.

Tara Dixon, 32, Jack Dixon, nine, Jordan McCourt, six, Nicola McCourt, three, and one-year-old Kieran McCourt are recovering in hospital today after fire ripped through their home in Glebelands Close, Shoreham, on Saturday night.

Paul McCourt, 37, praised his neighbours for their heroic efforts after they ran into the blazing building and rescued his partner, their children and six kittens.

Mr McCourt was out with friends as the drama unfolded.

He said: "I was walking home when a friend phoned and said the police wanted to speak to me. When I got in the police car they said there had been a fire and the family were at Worthing Hospital. It was a bit of a heart-stopping moment but they are all fine.

"I have been round to thank the neighbours and can't say enough to them."

He said the family may not be able to return to the house for three months. The kitchen was wrecked and the rest of the house damaged by the smoke.

Reg Phillips' 12-year-old son Paul heard cries for help as he was getting ready for bed and shouted to his parents.

Mr Phillips, 38, said: "We thought someone had been injured so we ran outside. We looked up and saw a boy hanging out of the window and black smoke billowing out."

Maureen Phillips, 40, dialled 999 while her husband and their 18-year-old son Mark climbed on to the porch roof and pulled the boy out.

The pair opened the downstairs windows and climbed in with sweatshirts tied round their faces.

Mr Phillips, who owns a double glazing business, said: "We were getting pushed out because the smoke was so thick.

"Mark managed to get in and pull a second child out.

"We kicked down the porch roof and could see the kitchen was ablaze. It was glowing bright orange. I noticed a box in the corner with kittens in it so I brought them out and they found the mother cat outside later.

"One of the boys was petrified and was crying and screaming for help. When you hear a child cry you don't think about it - you just have to help.

"I was a bit frightened the first time I got a lungful of smoke and then I began to worry because my boy was in there. By that time the fire brigade had arrived and other neighbours were helping."

Jean-Luc Pizzol, 39, of Glebelands Close, ran over when he heard shouts for help. He kicked down the front door and found Mrs McCourt crawling on the floor.

He said: "She kept shouting about her baby who was in an upstairs bedroom. I pushed her out the house and everybody was trying to find the baby."

Neighbour Mark Page had been celebrating his wife's birthday with friend Chris Knibbs and their families.

The men ran over and climbed in through the windows.

Mr Page, 45, said: "People kept shouting about children in the bedrooms. I went into one room and found an arm and saw a little pair of eyes staring up at me. I helped the little girl out and went back to try to find the baby. It was mass panic."

Mr Knibbs, 47, of Adur Drive, said: "I kept trying to search the bedrooms because we all knew there was a baby in there somewhere. The mother was absolutely distraught."

Fire crews from Shoreham and Lancing were called to the house at 10.45pm. Firefighter Katie Robinson-Brown, with the fire brigade only since May, rescued the baby boy from a cot in a back bedroom. All five were taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke.

A spokesman said: "If it were not for the heroic actions of the quick-thinking neighbours the incident could have had far worse consequences."

Fire investigators are trying to establish the cause of the blaze.