A MAN was found unconscious by firefighters after he returned into a smoke filled room and was overcome by fumes.

William Hewitt, 45, of Cobden Street, Nelson, had dozed off in the living room of his flat at Forest House at 7pm yesterday.

He was woken by a neighbour of the multi-occupancy flats who heard his smoke detector going off.

Sub-officer Tom Simpson said: "He had put clothes to dry near to a fire and they had caught fire.

"He picked the clothes up to move them to the bath and put the fire out with water, but then he went back into the living room to open the windows and let the smoke out and was overcome by the smoke."

When firefighters entered they found Mr Hewitt unconscious in the room which was full of smoke.

He was treated at the scene and taken to Burnley General Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation where he was recovering today.

A female neighbour was also treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation but she did not require hospital treatment.

Mr Simpson said: "If anyone discovers a fire the first thing to do is get yourself safely out of the building, call us out and leave us to tackle the fire. Never ever return into a building where a fire has been discovered.

"If he had not put those clothes out then we would have been looking at a body. Thankfully there was a smoke detector which alerted the neighbour."