A MAN is recovering in hospital today after he scrambled to safety after his second floor flat became engulfed in flames.The incident happened at about 8.

A MAN is recovering in hospital today after he scrambled to safety after his second floor flat became engulfed in flames.

The incident happened at about 8.39pm yesterday in Iris Close, Ipswich. A spokeswoman for the fire brigade said that three fire engines went to the blaze and there was no one in the flat when they arrived.

People nearby told the firefighters that a man had made his own way out of the property.

The flat was smoke logged and fire crews needed to use breathing equipment to bring the blaze under control by about 9.15pm.

Mary Steward, 55, who lives in the flat below, said: "We were all evacuated. I didn't hear anything until the fire engines arrived. The man who lives there came down the stairs when the fire started. His neighbour knocked on my door and told me to get out and it looked like there was a lot of smoke.

"Later the firemen checked that the smoke had not affected my flat as most of the damage was in one corner. They also checked that the water had not leaked down but there does not seem to be any damage."

Today the flat was being ventilated and there were a number of objects left on the grass outside the front of the property, including a cabinet. Ms Steward said the firemen had removed them from the man's flat.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said that the 54-year-old man was taken to hospital by ambulance and his injuries were not believed to be life threatening. The fire was not being treated as suspicious, he added.

A spokeswoman for the East Anglian Ambulance Trust said they received a call at 8.40pm and they conveyed a male to Ipswich Hospital.