A WOMAN died following a house fire at her home today.
Three fire appliances and 20 fire fighters attended the fire at 12pm today and rescued the woman from her kitchen in a two-storey cottage.
The 65-year-old woman was treated on the scene in Mayfield, Midlothian, and was then rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
But the woman, who lived in Crawlees Cottage in the town’s Suttieslee Road, died from smoke inhalation in hospital.
Police and fire and rescue services are now carrying out a joint investigation to establish the cause of the blaze.
A Lothian and Borders fire and rescue spokeswoman said: “A woman died in a fire today at around 12.45pm.
“The woman was taken to hospital but died from smoke inhalation.”
The spokeswoman added that “nobody else was in the house at the time” and that passers-by alerted the fire and rescue services when they noticed smoke coming from her house.
