A teenager has been rescued from a burning townhouse by a neighbour who pulled her through a ground floor window.

The suspicious blaze broke out in the unit’s kitchen just before 9 a.m. on Lime Ridge Road just behind Lime Ridge Mall.

Firefighters say the girl was trapped by the fire and fled to the bedroom at the back of the townhouse. But neighbour Barbara Trenton managed to get through the bedroom window and pull the girl to safety amid the choking smoke.

“The fire started in a cardboard box in the kitchen,” said Hamilton Fire District Chief Rick Bowman.

“Barbara did a beautiful job rescuing her.”

Neighbours say the girl is a client of Rygiel Supports For Community Living, who provide residential living for people with multiple disabilities.

Ontario Fire Marshal investigators have been called in, along with Mountain division detectives.