An elderly Shropshire man is “lucky to be alive” after fire tore through his kitchen when he fell asleep with a chip pan on.

The 74-year-old man, of Hallon, Worfield, near Bridgnorth, was taken to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital following the fire yesterday afternoon.

Firefighters fought the blaze for more than half-an-hour. The man, named locally as Peter Pitcher, was taken to hospital as a “precautionary” matter.

Leading firefighter Guy Williams said: “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind the fact this elderly gentleman had a fully functioning smoke alarm in his house has saved his life.

“He had put himself some chips on in a chip pan and then gone into the living room and fallen asleep.

“Chip pans are absolutely lethal and this one burst into flames, thank goodness he had a smoke alarm which woke him and he called us.”

Mr Williams said crews found the kitchen “well alight”.

“Fire was tearing through the kitchen and the poor gentleman was still inside,” he said. “We escorted him out and he was attended to by paramedics.”

Margaret Oakley, a friend of Mr Pitcher, said: “He rang me to say there was a fire in his house and that he’d called the fire brigade so I rushed up there and got him out. One of the fireman said to me I’d done a good job and if I had been another 20 minutes he wouldn’t have been so lucky.”