Man led to safety after flat fire in Preston

The man, in his fifties, tried to fight the fire, which started when a pan of food was left on a cooker.

The incident prompted officers to warn householders not to try and tackle a fire, but to get out of the building and call 999.

“This man was very lucky,” said a fire brigade spokesman. “But our message to everyone would be not to cook late at night. If there is a fire then get out, stay out and call us.”

The blaze broke out in the ground floor flat in the Plungington area of the city at around 12.20am.

Two crews from Preston and a third from Penwortham raced to the scene where they found the man was still inside the building.

“We walked him out of the property,” said the spokesman. “Apparently he had been cooking some meat in a pan on the cooker and had fallen asleep.

“The fire had burnt itself out, but the flat was full of smoke. Smoke detectors had gone off to alert him to the fire.

“He had tried to deal with it himself and by doing so had put himself at risk.

“He was checked over by paramedics, but fortunately he didn’t need to go to hospital.”