Yorkshire man tells of heroics in Paris fire rescue

His selfless actions meant his neighbours were able to escape the impending death trap unscathed.

The Yorkshire businessman, however, was less fortunate after he found himself cornered by flames and plunged from a fourth-floor window, crashing to the ground below.

Despite sustaining a catalogue of injures including a broken neck, Mr Hartley survived and to eventually collect a prestigious award in recognition of his heroism.

The ongoing investigation into the fire meant he was previously unable to talk about his ordeal, because of restrictions imposed by the French legal system.

A woman shouting from the building which housed a studio he used in the 17th arrondissement of the French capital first alerted Mr Hartley to danger in December 2007.

"I thought she was being attacked or something because I could not smell smoke at that stage," he said.

What he found was a blazing flat on the floor below and a woman whom he told to go downstairs to phone the fire brigade.

After closing the door to try to prevent the blaze from spreading, he ran back upstairs to the top floor to alert his neighbours.

"You do not really think about it," said Mr Hartley, who grew up in Skipton and lives between London and Paris. "You either immediately leg it or you don't think about it. It just didn't occur to me that you could leg it and leave people."

The residents were able to climb to safety on the roof where they were eventually rescued by firefighters.

But as the Good Samaritan tried to flee down the stairs the blaze erupted as a gas bottle exploded – with flames barring his escape.

"The fire went wild, it went absolutely crazy within the space of seconds," said Mr Hartley, 48.

"The flames were blowing up the stairwell as I was coming down. The flames caught me and the smoke was horrific – thick black smoke, it was choking. The electricity had gone off so I could not see anything.

"I knew I had a matter of seconds because I was passing out because of the smoke."

Forced back upstairs by the raging flames and suffocating smoke, Mr Hartley found himself with limited options as the seconds ticked away. With no time even to find the key to his own door, he managed to smash a window and thrust his head outside but as he gasped for air the flames caught up with him.

The next thing he recalls is regaining consciousness on the ground outside – having plunged around 11 metres from the fourth floor – and being told to keep talking by the chief of the 17th arrondissement fire brigade.

Father-of-three Mr Hartley said: "I think I fell unconscious and fell out. I think I must have passed out and fallen out. I do not remember consciously jumping out.

"I remember very clearly the chief of the fire brigade of the 17th district, Mr Tuillet. I remember him being absolutely fantastic. The French fire brigade and the hospital people were brilliant. They were so nice and kind."

Unaware of the extent of his injuries, while still on the ground the casualty asked the fire chief to inform his secretary that he would be late for work the following day.

In fact, it was to be some six months before he physically recovered, having broken his neck, both shoulder blades, nine ribs, severely damaging his liver and suffering a burnt trachea.

He spent two weeks in hospital, the first of which was in intensive care.

"The painful bit was that I had to cough all this stuff out of my lungs. That was agony," said Mr Hartley, who runs an upmarket carpet business in Paris.

Despite the ordeal and prolonged recovery Mr Hartley, who was awarded an Etoile Civique medal at the Senate in recognition of his courage, has no regrets.

"You cannot leave a burning building knowing people are asleep in it," he said.

"I could not imagine sitting outside the building and thinking, 'those people are being grilled up there'. I would do the same again."