The 58-year-old, from Grisedale Place, Chorley, was led to safety by a woman while a neighbour put out the fire.

The fortunate man, who was on his own in the flat, did not have a smoke alarm in the property when the pan set on fire around 8.20pm.

Chorley Fire Service blue watch manager Ian Turnbull praised the 'community spirit' of the neighbours and emphasised the importance of a smoke alarm.

He said: "He was very fortunate that the neighbours came to his assistance. He was in a ground floor flat and residents above him and to the side saw the smoke, went in his house and managed to catch the fire at an early stage.

"We think he had fallen asleep, luckily the door was open. A correctly located smoke alarm would have gone off a good few minutes before and woken him up.

"We are now putting one in and any homeowner can have a free fire safety check up including a fitted fire alarm. There is no need for anyone not have one."

Mr Turnbull said the man, in his 20s, used the standard procedure of smothering the pan with a rung out towel and leaving it on the hob.

He added: "We wouldn't recommend anybody to tackle a fire because there's the danger it could flare up, we'd much rather they got out.

"But the neighbours were instrumental, they were very concerned for the man and there was a real sense of community spirit present."

The 58-year-old was said to have been 'coughing and spluttering' at the scene and the flat was damaged by 'acrid' smoke.

He was given oxygen and then taken to hospital for a precautionary check-up.

For your free fire safety check call 0800 169 1125.