A man was carried to safety as his home burned around him in Redruth yesterday evening.

A neighbour called 999 when they heard the smoke alarm going off at a flat in Hawthorn Close. The neighbour could see that the lights were on in the flat, but could not get an answer from the person inside.

A full-scale emergency rescue was launched involving the crews of both fire engines from Tolvaddon, just after 8.50pm.

They broke their way in to the upstairs flat and found a fire had started in the kitchen and spread to a four metre squared area.

One man was rescued by a firefighter and taken to the care of a waiting ambulance crew. His condition today is not known.

The remaining firefighters used hosereels to put out a blaze involving the cooker and then aired the property of smoke.