AN EAST Lancashire couple are feeding exhausted New York firemen fish and chips as they toil to save terror victims still left alive in the aftermath of the onslaught which hit the city on Tuesday.

And last night Michael Baldwin, who used to live in Rishton and now manages New York's first chippy, relived the horror of seeing the 110-floor World Trade Centre collapse, killing thousands -- including a policeman who was one of their customers.

Michael, and Louise Demaine, who comes from Darwen, run A Salt and Battery. The shop is close to St Vincent's Hospital, near the scene of the devastation in Manhattan, where injured victims are being treated and where firemen take short breaks between 12-hour shifts.

Michael, formerly of Somerset Road, Rishton, said from his New York home: "I only live 10 minutes walk away from where it all happened. The TV signals went down and when I went outside there was just chaos in the streets. People were running around crying and screaming.

"I looked up to the twin towers and I saw one of them collapse . . . it was unbelievable, the magnitude of it.

"It's unimaginable. It's like a war zone.

"I go to bed at night and think 'There are thousands of people lying dead round the corner'."

Louise Demaine, who used to live in Cypress Street, Darwen, and runs the fish and chip shop with Michael, revealed they were delivering food to the exhausted firemen as they took their breaks at St Vincent's. "It's just half a block away," she said. "They call the area 'Ground Zero'."

Louise added: "I'm just devastated. I cried all day when it happened. When we go down to the hospital with the food people are applauding the firemen as they come back. It's amazing."

She described the heartbreak of seeing New Yorkers outside the hospital asking about loved ones. "There are posters of faces everywhere. People have asked us to put posters up in the shop and we have done,' she said.

The atmosphere now is unreal. "It's a very diverse community here and normally people are angry all the time rushing around, but now it's very calm."

She said she had seen firemen come back who were injured and had been burnt, but they had still gone back to work. "They're working 12-hour shifts with just short breaks.

"They're cold and wet and tired. They're just asking for socks and clean clothes."

Louise added that she and Michael were also supplying trucks to take their fish and chips to firemen in other locations.

"Everyone has been fantastic here. God bless the New Yorkers," said Louise, who thanked the Evening Telegraph for breaking the news yesterday to friends that they were safe and well.