A teenage boy has been arrested and charged over a fire at a family home that left an elderly woman trapped on a balcony after three other occupants managed to escape.

Emergency services called to the blaze at Abbotsford, in Sydney’s inner-west, around 4am on Tuesday found the house was already well ablaze.

Officers and a quick-thinking civilian used a ladder to rescue the 88-year-old woman, who was trapped when the fire blocked off a stairway.

The woman’s son, 65, his wife, 53, and a 44-year-old male renter all escaped. They were treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for smoke inhalation and taken to hospital for further assessment, as was the man who helped with the rescue.

The Weddle Avenue home was destroyed.

Police said that following inquiries, detectives and the State Crime Commands Arson Squad arrested a 17-year-old youth on Tuesday night at a house on Blackwood Road in Merrylands.

He was treated by paramedics for burns to his hands and legs before being taken to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.

“A search warrant was executed at the premises, with police locating and seizing a number of items of interest,” NSW Police alleged in a statement.

The teenager has been charged with damaging property by fire/explosion and dishonestly obtaining property by deception, and will appear before Parramatta Bail Division Court on Wednesday.

About 40 crews and 10 trucks attended at the height of the blaze, with neighbouring properties evacuated.

NSW Police Superintendent Christine McDonald said on Tuesday that police and the civilian, who grabbed a ladder for a rookie officer to climb to the balcony of the burning building, had saved the life of the elderly occupant.

“He’s only been a police officer for two months and he scaled a ladder whilst the house was completely alight to rescue that 88-year-old woman, with the help of the 49-year old civilian,” McDonald said.