FIREFIGHTERS had to rescue a man from a house blaze - on the first night he was house-sitting for friends.

Jonathan Schofield

FIREFIGHTERS had to rescue a man from a house blaze - on the first night he was house-sitting for friends.

The drama unfolded yesterday morning in Bury St Edmunds and fire crews had to batter down the door to drag the man to safety.

The alarm was raised in Oliver Road at about 1am when a neighbour saw smoke billowing from the house.

The occupant, house-sitter William Power, 28, was asleep on his first night in the house when firefighters wearing breathing apparatus burst into the room.

“I only moved in last night as I'm house-sitting for friends who are on holiday in Birmingham,” he said. “I was asleep up stairs, it must have been about 1am, and the next thing I know firemen appeared in my room and dragged me downstairs and out the front door.”

Mr Power said the neighbour had probably tried to wake him but he was sound asleep at the time.

Three crews from Bury arrived at the house and battered the door open to get inside and rescue Mr Power who was treated by paramedics on the street. His injuries were not serious and did not need hospital treatment.

Mr Power, who works at the Dog and Partridge pub in Crown Street, said he spilled some ink on one of the settee's cushions earlier in the evening and used water to clean it off.

He said: “I put it against a heater to dry it off, had a bath and went to bed. The cushion obviously caught fire while I was asleep. The settee is completely ruined but thankfully there isn't too much damage anywhere else other than some smoke damage.”

A spokesman from Suffolk Fire Service said the fire was brought under control within half an hour and the stop logged at 2.20am.