Tel Aviv - It took 30 years, but an Israeli fireman has finally repaid the woman who saved him from a fire when he was a child - by rescuing her from the flames.

According to the Ma'ariv daily Monday, Danny Shemesh was 10 years old when he was trapped in a fire in a storeroom in the yard of his home. His neighbour, Miriam Diner, heard his desperate cries for help, broke into the room, threw a wet rug over the helpless youth and pulled him to safety.

On Friday night Shemesh, duty officer at a fire station in central Israel, received a call about a fire and from the address, realised that the life of Miriam and her husband Avraham were in danger.

"The house was full of smoke. I sent a fireman to break down the door, meanwhile I realised there was no time to waste and I smashed the bedroom window. Avraham was still on his feet and and I pulled him out, but Miriam was already unconscious and in the final seconds I jumped into the room and got her out," Shemesh told Ma'ariv.

"We spend each day saving lives, but this time, thank God, I had the privilege of saving the life of the woman without whom I would not be alive," Shemesh said Sunday when he visited Miriam in hospital, where she remains in serious condition. (dpa)