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NORTH ATTLEBORO - An elderly couple suffered severe smoke inhalation and had to be rescued by firefighters inside their home that filled with smoke from a kitchen fire late Monday afternoon.

The man and woman, described by a fire official as being in their late 80s, were found by firefighters disoriented by the smoke inside their locked, one-story home at 23 Moran St. near the Plainville line.

"They took some heavy smoke inhalation," Fire Capt. Peter Cullen said. "The house was completely filled with smoke when we first arrived. The house was locked up. We had to gain entry."

Fire Lt. Curt Chretien and Firefighter/Paramedic Michael Bristol were able to make their way into the home through a side door.

"They found the elderly gentleman disoriented inside the doorway, trying to find his way out, but he couldn't. The house was so filled with smoke, you couldn't see," Cullen said. After Bristol carried the man out, Firefighters Rick Lambert and Richard McDonagh assisted Chretien and found the elderly woman in the kitchen. She also was disoriented and Chretien carried her out, Cullen said.

The couple were taken by North Attleboro and Plainville ambulances to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro. Their names and conditions couldn't be learned Monday night.

The couple apparently called in the fire about 5:20 p.m.

"We want to remind people you really want to get out of the house before you call," Cullen said.

Firefighters didn't hear smoke alarms when they arrived, he said.

"It was confined to the kitchen stove area," Cullen said of the fire, which he noted was quickly extinguished.

The home is not habitable at the moment, Cullen added.