Residents hailed as heroes after saving neighbour from house fire

Quick-thinking rescuers have been hailed as heroes for pulling a smoke-blackened elderly man to safety from his burning South Tyneside home.

- by Gareth Crickmer

They used a sledgehammer to smash the front window after finding the door of the one-story council property in Chesterton Road, Biddick Hall, unbreakable.

Neighbours and passersby pushed two wheelie bins to the window and used the pulled-back lids to cover broken glass embedded in the frame.

That allowed them to pull the victim, who is believed to be in his 80s, across them and away from danger without being cut as the blaze took hold at 3.30pm on Wednesday.

Once outside, they comforted him and brought him water as they awaited medical help.

As firefighters moved in to extinguish the blaze, paramedics raced him to hospital.

Today, neighbours praised the actions of members of the public who risked their own lives.