A TEENAGER and his neighbour have been hailed heroes after saving a young couple from a blazing flat in a complex which residents are campaigning to be demolished.

Seventeen-year-old Robert Stubbs and Allan Caswell, 48, rushed to help a woman in her late teens after Robert's wife Anne spotted her screaming for help from her kitchen window in Burnmoor Road in Redcar.

"When we got there was a crowd telling the lass to jump but she just kept screaming that she couldn't," said Robert. "There's only one exit in these flats and that was blocked by fire."

The two men helped the woman and her boyfriend, who is thought to be in his late twenties, out of the first floor kitchen window.

"They would definitely have injured themselves if they'd jumped," said Allan. "They were both in shock."

When four fire crews arrived on Thursday evening they extinguished the blaze and rescued a cat called Smokey which was given oxygen by an ambulance crew.

Paramedic Claire Allinson said: "Poor Smokey was very limp but perked up wonderfully with a whiff of oxygen from a disposable mask."

Fire experts believe a settee and bedding piled up outside the building had been ignited and flames spread up into the flat.

Police said the incident could have had serious consequences and are treating it as suspicious. The blaze severely damaged the flat and partly damaged three others.

Theresa Cave, the mother of Chris Cave, who died of stab wounds earlier this year next to the flats, has collected 600 signatures on a petition demanding the flats be demolished.

Speaking yesterday, Mrs Cave, who wants a memorial to her son in place of the flats, said: "It's disgusting what's happened.

"These flats are like tinderboxes. The rubbish outside the flat should have been collected.

"I'm planning a peaceful protest if nothing is done."

Residents claim the estate has deteriorated in the last two years and that there are problems with drug users who have moved there.

Iain Sim, chief executive of Coast & Country Housing, which owns the flats, said: "We are conscious of the problems being faced by residents on the estate.

"We are seeking to work with tenants and residents to get a long term solution to those problems."

Anyone with information should contact Cleveland Police on (01642) 302626.