Police have rescued a mother and her two children from their burning home at Maitland.
Officers had just completed a vehicle stop at about 3.00am on Wednesday when they noticed flames coming from the rear of a single level weatherboard home in Clift Street.
They forced open the front door and found the woman and her children asleep inside and pulled them to safety.
A neighbour managed to extinguish the fire with a garden hose.
Police say a beer keg being used as a wood heater appears to have dropped embers on the rear timber deck which sparked the blaze.
The fire was confined to the deck area - the mother and children were unharmed and were able to return to the home.
