A SENIOR fire officer has praised a Harlow father and son who rescued a neighbour from his blazing home on Saturday afternoon.

The man, who was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital with smoke inhalation, was in an upstairs bedroom at the council house in Barley Croft, Harlow, when Lea Ellis-Callow and his father, Trevor, spotted smoke.

Lea said: "I was putting some bags in the boot of our car for my father when I saw some smoke, black and thick, coming out of his kitchen window.

"After calling the fire brigade we rushed to his house and shouted at the top of our voices to attract his attention. But we knew he would never be able to escape through the front because of increasing smoke and flames. It was horrendous."

The duo rescued the man, who has not been named, through a rear window using a ladder.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled the fire which gutted about half of the ground floor.

Assistant divisional officer Matt Furber said: "The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The victim owes a lot of gratitude to his brave neighbours. They acted sensibly by not rushing into the house.

"We would, however, advise people in similar situations to think very carefully before they attempt to do something like this because it could easily endanger their own life."

A Harlow Council spokeswoman said: "It's too early to say what we intend to do with the house. We need to send a surveyor to assess the property and will be doing so as soon as we get permission from the fire service."