A MAN is lucky to be alive after a chip pan fire at a Hartlepool home in the early hours of this morning.

Fire crews from the town were called to Wynyard Mews in the Owton Manor area at 2.30am after neighbours heard a smoke alarm.

Watch Manager, Andy Hardy, said the man had been on a night out and decided to turn the chip pan on to cook but fell asleep in the living room.

Police and fire crews banged on the doors in an effort to wake the man.

“We were just about the break the door down when he managed to get up and out of the house. All the banging must have woken him.

“He is one very lucky man to be here today.”

Just two weeks earlier a fire in Norton believed to have been caused by ‘unattended cooking’ took the life of a 30-year-old woman.

If neighbours hadn't raised the alarm, Mr Hardy said this could have been the case here but the man suffered only mild smoke inhalation.

He said: “We tell people time and time again just don’t put chip pans on after a night out. In fact, throw them out and then people won’t be tempted.

“If you have been for a night out just get something to eat on the way home. If you have had a drink just come in and go straight to bed and don’t even think about putting the chip pan on.”