Unconscious man saved from blaze

The 50-year-old regained consciousness after he was given oxygen outside the property on Scotia Drive at about 11.15pm. It is believed he’d lit a cigarette in the bedroom, but left it unattended and fallen asleep in the lounge.

A neighbour dialled 999 after hearing the smoke alarm and firefighters forced entry, discovering the man unconscious in the smoke-filled flat.

Watch manager Steve Krzebietka, from Mansfield Road station, said: “He is very lucky to be alive, especially considering that he wasn’t woken by the smoke alarm.

“Thankfully fire crews were on the scene very quickly but a few more minutes and we could have been dealing with a fatality.”

Earlier in the evening the same fire crews were called to another flat fire, on Skelton Drive in Woodhouse, which started when an 83-year-old woman smoking in bed set fire to some papers.

Both she and a 53-year-old man from the flat above were taken to the Northern General Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.