Two 'have-a-go heroes' thought they were helping when they ran into 74-year-old Carol Grant's home to help with a burning chip pan in her kitchen.
But she has been left devastated after she claims the pair moved the burning chip pan to her living room.
Mrs Grant could only watch from outside her Swansea home as the chip pan "went off like a bomb" and her living room went up in flames.
She didn't know it at the time, but as she held on to her dog Toby, Mrs Grant was having a heart attack on the street.
Mrs Grant has now returned home after a week in hospital. She believes the fire, which happened on April 23, could have been avoided and knowing this has left her distraught.
Station manager Andy Pughsley, from Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This incident was made worse by the fact that passers-by attempted to move the chip pan once it had caught fire."
The fire started after Mrs Grant started cooking some chips. She said she suddenly saw thick black smoke coming from the pan and her first thought was to turn the heat off and get out the house.
"I had left the pan in the kitchen and I had gone and closed the windows," Mrs Grant said.
"I called the fire brigade, got Toby and waited outside but then these two people came by and ran into the house.
"I shouted at them saying there was no need and everybody was out but they didn't listen. Now I'm left with nothing."
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Mrs Grant said the man and woman ran into the house opening the living room windows as they went. They grabbed one of Mrs Grant's coats and picked up the smoldering pan.
But the pan was so hot, the coat caught fire. Mrs Grant said they dropped the pan in the living room and when the air hit the smoking oil, it erupted into flames.
Fire crews arrived at the two-storey house on Westdale Road, Blaen-y-Maes and they had to use breathing apparatus as they put the flames out.
The fire crew gave oxygen to the passers-by and Mrs Grant while the ambulance was on its way.
Coughing, vomiting and struggling to breathe, Mrs Grant said she thought she was suffering from smoke inhalation. But when she arrived at hospital, a blood test showed she had had a heart attack.
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She spent a week in hospital and had a stent fitted. Mrs Grant returned home on Wednesday. While she was in hospital, her 80-year-old brother and son, who was given special leave from the Navy to come home to help her, had scrubbed the kitchen and living room clean.
It meant she never saw the full extent of the damage to her home, but Mrs Grant is still angry.
"It was absolutely black - you can still smell the smoke. It will take months to go away and the carpets are soaking wet.
"People should know and need to know the dangers. It could have been avoided."
Swansea council is now helping Mrs Grant to dispose of the items destroyed in the fire.
