AN ELDERLY man who died in a fire at his home tried to tackle the blaze instead of escaping, it was revealed today.

Eric Laycock, in his late 70s, poured pans of water on his bed after it caught fire at his home in Denville Road, Blackburn, yesterday morning.

Early indications suggest a cigarette set it alight -- even though his family had repeatedly warned him about the dangers of smoking during the night.

Mr Laycock collapsed in his bedroom after being overcome by the smoke. Firefighters smashed the door down and dragged him out barely conscious.

They and paramedics gave him first-aid but Mr Laycock was dead on arrival at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

How long Mr Laycock had attempted to extinguish the fire was unclear today. However, the fire damaged a pull-cord panic alarm and triggered a fault in the system of elderly people's alarms across Blackburn.

Call centre staff logged the error at 7am and police believe this was the moment the fire broke out. The system was fixed yesterday afternoon.

A 999 call was not made until half-an-hour later, when neighbours spotted Mr Laycock's windows blackening.

Inspector Stuart Bruce said: "There were pots and pans filled with water and he has tried to put it out himself.

"He has been overcome by flames and that has led to his death. The fire smothered itself out anyway before the fire service arrived, due to a lack of oxygen. His death was tragic and unnecessary.

"There are no suspicious circumstances. Suggestions say he had been smoking in bed and that it was caused by a fire on the mattress.

"His family have told us that, unfortunately, he had been spoken to on many occasions about smoking in bed."

The inspector added that Mr Laycock's only relative was a niece, who visited him a couple of times a week to look after him. She is said to be extremely distressed.

Officers from the police and fire services are compiling a report which will be passed to the coroner for an inquest. Station commander Jim Owen said tests were being carried out on a smoke alarm in the property to discover if it activated.

He added: "In Lancashire, the fire service attends over 150 house fires a year caused by smoking. It accounts for more than one third of all fire deaths across the country."