ATTLEBORO -- A FedEx driver battled flames on the porch of a burning house Friday morning to rouse the occupants to safety, witnesses and public safety officials said.

Kristine Michaud was credited by firefighters for her heroism in helping save the residents, including young children who were not in school at the time.

`` She did a great job. She was instrumental in helping the people on the bottom floors,'' said offduty firefighter David Ventura, who ran up the back stairs to help a woman and her young son on the third floor.

The fire, reported about 9 a.m. at a Victorian house at 1 Tiffany St. on the corner of South Main Street, started on the porch and spread to the firstfloor apartment before firefighters knocked it down.

`` I was driving by on the way to work, and I saw fire on the porch,'' Michaud said. `` I was banging on the doors to see if there was anybody in there.'' Michaud played down any notion of heroism, saying she only did what anyone else would have done. She said the driver of an oil delivery truck also happened on the scene along with off-duty firefighters.

`` There was nothing to be afraid about,'' Michaud said when asked if she feared for her own safety. `` All I care about is that people got out.''

Firefighters, who plan to recognize Michaud, said her actions enabled a woman and three children on the first floor and a man on the second floor to flee the wind-swept fire.

Ventura said his actions running up a smoke-free back stairway to the third floor were minor compared with Michaud, who was the first on the scene.

Although all the occupants got out safely, a pet cat died in the blaze, police and fire officials said.

Cindy Baker, 35, who lives on the third floor, heard the smoke alarm and then heard the fire engines arrive before she realized there was actually a fire.

`` It was scary,'' said Baker, who stuck her head out the third-floor window to find out what all the commotion was about.

`` All I saw was flames,'' she said.

Baker said she and her 4-year-old son, Darius, fled out the back stairwell with Ventura.

On the second floor, 22-year-old Alex Esterson said he was asleep and woke up to the smell of smoke before seeing the flames. `` At first I thought somebody was burning incense. Then I saw black smoke,'' Esterson said.

He grabbed a jewelry box filled with family heirlooms before running outside barefoot in T-shirt and jeans.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, but is believed to have started on a smoking area on the porch, Deputy Fire Chief Erik Guillette said.

Guillette said strong winds helped feed the flames, but firefighters managed to knock the flames down in about 10 minutes.

Guillette said the fire spread to the inside of the first floor by the time Ventura ran up the back stairs to get the third-floor resident and came back down moments later.

`` The whole front was fully involved when we got here,'' Guillette said.

He said the fire damage was confined to the first floor, which was gutted in the blaze.

Corrugated tin ceilings in the apartment allowed heat to build up, melting a television and other contents, Guillette said.

The top two floors sustained smoke damage, he said.

Damage to the entire building was estimated to be about $100,000, Guillette said.

Valerie Hickey, an official with the Massachusetts Bay chapter of the American Red Cross, responded to the scene to assist the residents.

She said the occupants, six adults and nine children, were staying with friends or relatives.

The Red Cross provided food vouchers and clothing allowances for the victims.