A QUICK-thinking neighbour who helped rescue a couple from a blazing house today said: "I would do the same for anyone."

Darren Boyer, 27, was praised by firefighters after fire broke out in the front bedroom of a terraced house in Parkinson Street, Burnley, at 1am.

Four people in the house, brothers Alan and Mark Taylor, and their girlfriends Sarah O'Day and Tara Flint, all in their late teens or early 20s, suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to Burnley General Hospital for treatment.

And their dog was revived by firemen with the aid of an oxygen mask.

Darren was just getting ready to go to bed when he heard a loud bang which he thought was someone kicking a door in.

He said: "When I looked next door I saw smoke and flames coming from the living room window and I told my girlfriend Joanne Craig to take our baby, three-month-old Chloe, out of the back of the house.

"There were two people at the front bedroom window shouting for help and I told them to put a wet towel at the bottom of the door to stop the smoke.

"I went to phone the fire brigade and my girlfriend was still in the house. She said there was lots of smoke at the back and two more people were trapped upstairs."

Darren kicked down the back gate but when he got to the door he realised the house was full of smoke and so shouted to the two people trapped, Sarah and Alan, to break the window and climb down the drainpipe.

He said: "As the girl was climbing down she fell off and I grabbed her injuring my hand."

They were taken into Darren's house while the emergency services arrived.

Darren and Joanne have lived in the street for about 18 months and the brothers and their girlfriends have been there for about six months.

Darren, an unemployed sheet metal worker, said: "I have seen programmes on how quickly a fire can spread and I know the important thing is to act quickly.

"No-one should go through something like that. I just kept saying to them not to panic."

Station officer at Burnley Peter Kelly said: "He did a really job getting them out of the house so quickly."

He said the front window had cracked and firefighters put a jet of water through it to extinguish the fire while at the same time put a ladder up to the first floor to help Tara and Mark out of the front window.

All four were given oxygen by firefighters before being taken to hospital.

A bull mastiff cross dog was rescued unconscious from upstairs but was revived by firefighters and is now being cared for by Darren.

Mr Kelly said: "The fire was caused by clothes being left to dry on a maiden too close to a a gas fire. I would urge people not to cover a fire with clothes and make sure they are kept a safe distance away when drying.

"The house did have a smoke detector but the battery was in the wrong way round.

"There was an aerosol in the house which caused the explosion which the neighbour heard."