Two police officers pulled a woman from her smoke-filled home in Nottingham and the military have again highlighted the problem of hoax callers as the dispute enters its fourth day.

Both officers had to be treated for the effects of breathing in smoke, after rescuing the woman from her home in the Bestwood area of the city early on Monday.

At one stage neighbours were beaten back by the thick smoke and it was feared the woman's children were also inside.

Elsewhere, police and the military have highlighted the number of hoax calls which have plagued emergency controllers during the dispute.

Rescue pair

T Marion Ramsey, a neighbour of the Nottingham woman, said she was beaten back by the intensity of the smoke in the house.

"I couldn't get in the bedroom because the smoke was so bad and it was getting to me," she said.

"Then the police came and one of them went in but the smoke forced him out .

A soldier cleans up after a fire on Tyneside

"He then called his colleague and they went back in and got her."

Overnight, six people suffering from smoke inhalation were rescued from a block of flats in South Ockendon, Essex.

The fire started in a letter box next to a ground floor flat.

In Southall, west London, six Green Goddesses spent four hours battling a fire in a former pub.

Two soldiers were engulfed in dust and rubble when the building collapsed, but both emerged safely.

Airport alert

Since the start of the strike on Friday morning up until midnight on Saturday 5,350 calls have been received by control centres across the UK with military personnel responding to 2,293 incidents.

Taped recordings of hoax callers have been released to the media in the hope of highlighting the problem.

A man from Bolton has been arrested and released on police bail after reports of a hoax call-out.

In Manchester, the Army was put on alert after receiving reports of a Boeing 747 experiencing difficulty as it came into land at the city's airport.

Soldiers in Greater Manchester and Cheshire were warned about the possible danger as the flight approached Manchester with "flap problems" at around 0550 GMT.

A Green Goddess and a breathing apparatus team were moved closer to the airport but the plane landed safely shortly before 0700 GMT, an Army spokesman said.