A QUICK-THINKING workman who alerted emergency services to a serious fire has today met the woman whose house he helped to save.BT engineer Steve Cleary, 47, was carrying out work on a nearby house when he spotted smoke coming from the roof of Helen Day's Trimley St Mary home.

A QUICK-THINKING workman who alerted emergency services to a serious fire has today met the woman whose house he helped to save.

BT engineer Steve Cleary, 47, was carrying out work on a nearby house when he spotted smoke coming from the roof of Helen Day's Trimley St Mary home.

He said: "I did a bit of a double take but when I got up to the house I could hear a smoke alarm going off, so I hammered on the door. When I stepped back I could see that the windows upstairs were black so I rang 999 immediately."

Mrs Day, of Faulkeners Way, Trimley St Mary, was devastated when she arrived at her house during her lunch break on May 10 to find the whole first floor had been ravaged by the blaze.

By the time she arrived, Mr Cleary, of Manor Walk, Kesgrave, had gone back to work, but she was so keen to thank him personally she issued a plea in The Evening Star for him to come forward.

The pair were united for the first time at the scene of the fire yesterday.

Mrs Day, who is living in a caravan while the house is repaired, said: "I just want to thank him for calling the fire service and being such a community minded person.

"Other people may have just driven past and assumed somebody else was dealing with it.

"The house has been quite badly damaged but it could have been much worse.

"By the time I got there the fire had been put out, so I'm thankful that I didn't have to stand there and watch my house go up in flames.

"I think it is important to say thank you when someone has done something that makes a difference. People always write to complain and moan but rarely take time to praise."

Not only did Mr Cleary help to alert the emergency services that day, he also came to the aid of a policeman who attended the fire when he cut his hand.

Pc Mark Jackaman was on patrol in the area when he spotted the fire. He said: "Obviously my first priority was to make sure there was nobody upstairs suffering from smoke inhalation, or worse, so I put the back door in and as I went in the top pane of glass fell on the back of my hand.

"When I got out of the house it was pouring with blood and Mr Cleary went and fetched some clean towels and bandaged it up. I'm very grateful for his actions."

Pc Jackaman went to hospital where he had butterfly strips put on the wound. All that can be seen now is a small scar and there will be no lasting damage.

Mr Cleary said: "It wasn't quite how I expected my day to turn out but I don't think I did anything out of the ordinary.

"I think if you see people in trouble then helping them is just something that you would naturally do."

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