A SMOKE alarm has saved a teenager's life after a chip pan fire threatened to destroy his home.

The 19-year-old, from Boyne Street, Willington, County Durham, had fallen asleep after leaving a pan of chips on, just before midnight.

Firefighters from Crook rushed to the scene as the fire took hold in the kitchen of the house, but the teenager had already managed to douse the flames with a damp cloth.

Station officer Keith Wanley said: "The heat had been so severe that it had melted the plastic fittings of the doorbell. He was sound asleep and he told us it was the smoke alarm that had woken him.''

The youth suffered from smoke inhalation and had to be taken to hospital for a check-up, but Station Officer Wanley said if it had not been for the smoke alarm it could have been worse.

He said: "He got a lung full of smoke. It could have been potentially fatal. If it had not been for the smoke alarm going off, he would still have been there and the house would have burned down.''

Station Officer Wanley said that the batteries in the alarm had been flat, but it had worked because it had been wired into the mains of the house.

He said: "I think this serves as an example as to how smoke alarms can save people's lives. Those who do have battery-operated smoke alarms should always make sure that the batteries are working.''

The incident also gave the brigade a chance to use new equipment called a positive pressure ventilator fan.

The device clears houses of smoke replacing in with fresh air giving firefighters a better chance to investigate blazes without using breathing apparatus.