A HERO rushed into a burning house to save his 85-year-old neighbour after a tea light candle set his home on fire.

Jamie Kilduff leapt into action when a fire began filling his neighbour's bungalow with black, acrid smoke.

After escorting Gordon Bretherton, out of the smoke-filled house in Dalton, he then went back in to tackle the blaze.

Mr Kilduff said: "My wife was working in the front garden, we've got a camper van in the front and I was doing some work on that.

"My wife heard next door's fire alarm going off and saw Gordon running into the kitchen with panic on his face.

"We noticed black smoke coming out of the windows."

The fire, which broke out on Saturday afternoon, is believed to have been started by a tea light.

The flame set alight some wool next to a sewing machine, whose plastic cover then caught fire, filling the house with thick black smoke.

As Mr Kilduff's wife, Karen, rang the fire brigade, he ran into the house to find his neighbour trying to wet kitchen towels to control the fire.

He said: "Gordon was in the kitchen wetting towels. The house was full of black smoke. He was in distress, he was panicking like mad."

Mr Kilduff, 51, helped his neighbour outside, before running to his camper van to get a fire extinguisher.

In the 30 seconds it took to get his extinguisher, the smoke had become even thicker.

Mr Kilduff said: "I went back in and the smoke was down by the floor, so I put my T-shirt around my face, and gave the fire a blast with the extinguisher."

As he emerged from the smoke, he went over to Mrs Kilduff who was calming Mr Bretherton down.

Both men were assessed by paramedics, and Mr Bretherton was taken to hospital for observation.

Mr Kilduff said that following a stay in hospital, Mr Bretherton came back home yesterday afternoon. He said: "Apparently he's doing OK."

A spokesman for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service said that had Mr Kilduff not acted, the entire house would have gone up in flames.

Asked why he ran into a burning building, Mr Kilduff said: "I was in the Territorial Army for 11 years. My first instinct was to get him out."

Firefighters have since warned about the use of tea light candles, offering the following advice:

Always place your candles and tealights in a suitable fire resistant candleholder;

Make sure the candleholder holds candles and tealights firmly and is on a flat and stable surface to stop it falling over;

Always put the candleholder on a heat resistant surface like a ceramic plate (tea lights can melt plastic surfaces such as the top of a television or the side of a bath);

Always leave at least 10cm (4 inches) between burning candles and tealights;

Never place them under shelves or other enclosed spaces;

Keep candles, tealights, matches and lighters out of the reach of children and pets;

Keep candles and tealights away from curtains, furniture and anything else that can catch fire;

Keep loose clothing and hair away from candles and tealights when they are lit;

Always put candles and tealights out and leave to cool down before you try to move them;

Use a candle ‘snuffer’ or metal spoon to put candles and tealights out – it is safer than blowing them out which can send sparks and hot wax flying;

Never leave lit candles or tealights unattended;

Never put tealights on on plastic surfaces such as baths.

Read more:

A blocked chimney in Barrow led to a call out from the fire brigade

E-cigarettes could pose a serious fire risk, as incidents of them exploding rise.