AN off-duty firefighter helped save a man when he walked past a burning home.

The man had been stripping paint from a window at his home in Lambton Drive, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, when the fire began. He went outside but had gone back in to try to salvage personal items when the firefighter helped him out again.

A spokesman for Bishop Auckland fire station, who attended the scene said: "Apparently the man was stripping paint from the window of his bedroom and some flaming paint jumped on to his clothing.

"He was very distraught."

He was taken to Bishop Auckland General Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Fire crews confined the blaze to a bedroom