A DARING neighbour climbed on to a friend's roof and used a hosepipe to put out a fire after the house was struck by lightning.

Vic Tonner, who was wearing only his dressing gown, ignored the storm raging overhead and climbed on to the roof of Paul Hook and Sue Whitcombe's house.

The company director climbed a ladder and extinguished the blaze before fire crews arrived at the scene in Redmarshall, near Stockton, Teesside, just after 5am yesterday.

Mr Tonner, 42, said he went on "automatic pilot" after seeing his neighbour's roof on fire.

He said: "The storm woke me up and I was watching it out the window when I saw it hit their house.

"Almost immediately, flames started coming from the roof.

"I just had my dressing gown on but I ran to the house to try to help them get the kids out.

"I asked Paul to connect the hose and we got a neighbour's ladder and I went up to the roof to try and put the flames out.

"It did not take long to do, but when I was up there, I thought 'hang on, I'm stood on a ladder on someone's roof in the middle of a storm'."

Firefighters arrived minutes later to begin the clean-up job at the detached house.

Fallen masonry litters the front garden of the couple's house, in Derwent Close, and a tarpaulin covers a 3ft sq hole in the roof.

Mr Hook, 40, said his children, Joseph, 12, Emily, ten, and Amy, five, were excited by the event.

He said: "Thankfully it happened over our room and not any of the kids'.

"Still, they will no doubt be telling their friends that it was much more dramatic than it really was."

Station Officer Ian Dunning said: "The family were in bed and heard a loud bang. They thought it was just thunder, but a neighbour came across the road and said their roof was on fire.

"He called us out, got out his ladders and directed a garden hose on to the fire.

"We put a sheet over the roof to stop the rain getting in and used a thermal imaging camera to ensure the lightning had not hit the electric cables of the house.

"It is very unusual. We do not get many lightning strikes, but when we do, it can be quite complex. We have to make sure the structure of the building is sound."