FIREFIGHTERS broke down a front door with a sledgehammer to rescue a 64-year-old man from his smoke-filled home at Huncoat today.

Peter Naughton had fallen asleep in the front room leaving a pan of meat on the cooker. It had burned dry giving off acrid smoke.

The alarm was raised at about 1.15am by two passers-by in Bolton Avenue.

The two young men tried the front and back doors, but found them them locked and dialled 999.

Leading firefighter George Mullaney, of Accrington fire station, said: "We looked through the letter box and the place was thick with smoke."

Unable to get a reply, firefighters broke down the front door.

Mr Mullaney said: "He was just coming towards the front door.

"We think the banging and crashing had woken him and he did not realise what was going on.

"We just grabbed him and pulled him through the door to get him into the fresh air."

Mr Mullaney praised the two passers-by for their prompt action in calling the fire brigade.

He said: "The fire itself was virtually nothing but the amount of smoke it created was quite incredible.

"It would only have got worse."

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