A FEMALE firefighter from Burnley saved a man's life after pulling him unconscious from a smoke-filled house.

Caroline Hardiman went into the house in Beech Street, Accrington, with her colleague Gary Holderness and found Paul Day lying unconsciousness in his front room.

They dragged him onto the pavement where their colleagues tried to revive him with oxygen and treated his hands for burns.

Caroline, a firefighter for two years, then re-entered the choking fume-filled house with Gary to tackle the fire in the rear kitchen.

Mr Day, believed to be in his late 20s, came around at the scene and was taken by ambulance to Blackburn Royal Infirmary, where he was treated for smoke inhalation and burns to his hands.

Fire chiefs said the fire had started when a clothes airer was left too close to a heater in the kitchen. The house had smoke alarms but they did not have any batteries in.

Mr Day was asleep in the front room before he had been woken by the smoke. He had tried to remove the airer himself but the fire and smoke forced him to retreat and led to him collapsing.

The call came to Accrington Fire Station just before 7pm yesterday. The crews reached the house within two minutes.

Caroline, 27, said: "We arrived at the property and we were told it was a kitchen fire. We entered the property by the front door and found the unconscious casualty in the front room. He was in a really bad way.

"The smoke was really acrid, he was very lucky that we got here, if he had not received medical treatment, he may not have survived."

Gary, from Accrington, said: "We then went back in to tackle the fire in the kitchen, it was quite smoke-logged and I can understand why he collapsed, he was quite lucky really."

Station Officer Andy Taylor, said: "We revived him at the scene and he was very disorientated, we treated his hands for burns before he was taken to hospital by ambulance.

"He is lucky to be alive.

"The house had smoke alarms, but they didn't have any batteries in. Something like this shows the importance of having a working alarm. He was asleep in the front room and it was only by luck that he woke up when he did.

Pauline Pearson, of Beech Street, heard the fire engines arrive at the house just across from her house.

She said: "I heard them say it was touch-and-go. They then put foil around him and gave him oxygen and after about 20 minutes he sat up and walked into the ambulance."