A MAN and a teenager jumped for their lives as fire ripped through a Radcliffe house.

Six firefighters battled for nearly an hour in the flame-filled home, searching for other occupants they feared could be trapped inside.

Les Owen (39) and 17-year-old David Graham had already leapt to safety from first floor windows of the end terrace in Saxon Street to escape the blaze.

The alarm was raised shortly after 4am on Monday (Nov 26) by neighbour Phil Brown, pictured outside the fire-ravaged property, who saw smoke and flames billowing from the front of the house.

He said: "For some reason I awoke at 3.30am and decided to go downstairs for a cup of coffee about half an hour later.

"My wife then came down and said she could hear breaking glass and that there may be a fire. "I checked outside and saw a fierce fire at the end house. Flames were pouring out and I could hear somebody crying for help."

Sixteen firefighters, from Whitefield and Bury, tackled the flames with six officers risking their own lives to search the house.

Sub-officer Gary Manock from Whitefield Fire Station said: "Officers searched the house for nearly one hour before we could be certain the property was empty.

"The heat was very intense and colleagues worked hard to deal with the fire."

Discarded smoking materials are believed to have caused the fire which ripped through the terraced house.

Smoke damage was also suffered by neighbouring properties.

Mr Graham and Mr Owen, who rented the house, were taken to Fairfield General Hospital suffering smoke inhalation and minor injuries.