A QUICK-THINKING neighbour and a dog helped save a man from his burning home.

Derek Whitaker, 30, was asleep in the front bedroom of his terraced home in Clare Street, Burnley, when his dog's barking woke him in the middle of the night.

Mr Whitaker found the house was full of smoke from a fire which started in the lounge directly below his bedroom.

He smashed the bedroom window and prepared to jump for his life when neighbour Michael Gorton appeared, put a ladder to the first floor window and led Mr Whitaker to safety.

Mr Gorton then went back up the ladder and saved the dog. Mr Whitaker was given oxygen by the fire brigade and treated at the scene for smoke inhalation by paramedics but he declined hospital treatment.

Sub-officer Peter Frazer, of Burnley fire station, said: "He was very lucky that his dog woke him up. If he had had a smoke alarm that might have alerted him before the dog.

"We have to praise his neighbour for his quick actions. He did all the right things and did a good job getting Mr Whitaker out of the house alive."

The fire brigade said the blaze was started when a discarded cigarette fell down the back of a settee in the lounge and smouldered for a couple of hours before setting it alight.

The fire caused severe heat and smoke damage to the lounge and smoke damage to the rest of the house.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.