A WOMAN aged 78 died moments after making a 999 call for help after a blaze broke out at her home.

She was found slumped in her chair, still clutching the phone, when firefighters went into her Baker Street, Oakes, flat to tackle the blaze at 5.30pm yesterday.

The fire crew tried to revive the woman, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Several relatives have still to be told about the tragedy, so the woman has not yet been named by police.

Station Officer Paul Mace, of Huddersfield fire station, said fire crews used breathing apparatus before entering the flat, which was heavily smoke-logged.

The woman was found lifeless in her armchair in the living room.

Station Officer Mace said the firefighters carried her outside and used heart massage and a defibrillator to try to revive her.

But all attempts to save her life were unsuccessful.

The fire is believed to have started in a pan left on the cooker. The kitchen was heavily smoke-logged.

Fire crews spent more than an hour at the scene.

This morning, people living on Baker Street were shocked to hear of the tragedy.

One woman said: "I didn't come home until about 7.30 last night and saw nothing.

"I had no idea anything so serious had happened."

A man living near the flat said: "This is the first I've heard about it. There was no signs of a fire at the complex when I got home last night."

The first-floor flat is one of several in Flower Court, which is just off Baker Street, which is a narrow cobbled road which runs between New Hey Road and Wellington Street.

The flats are Huddersfield Flower Fund Homes and were opened in April, 1979, by the then Mayor of Kirklees, Clr Cyril Kenchington.

The flats are just below the imposing Oakes Baptist Church, which was renovated after a serious blaze there several years ago.