A doorman at a Darlington club has been hailed a hero for trying to tackle a blaze single- handed.

Officials at the ASE Club, in Northgate, have praised Colin Smith, who is deaf, for saving the club thousands of pounds by stopping the fire from spreading.

Colin was the first person to smell smoke in the concert room, and he alerted committee members upstairs.

Club secretary Joe Simpson said: "It was Colin who raised the alarm for the whole club.

"He went in to the concert room with a fire extinguisher and had a go at it before we pulled him out of there.

"With him being deaf, he wouldn't have been able to hear if anything happened, so we had to drag him back to get him out.

"He showed no regard for his own safety. His first thought was to put the fire out."

Mr Simpson also praised barman Mark Kirby, who contacted the fire brigade and made sure everybody was out of the building.

He said: "If it wasn't for those two the damage would have been a lot more substantial.

"I would say that between the two of them, especially Colin, they saved the club from six weeks of closure."

Fortunately the fire was on Tuesday evening, a quiet night for the club when there were only a few members, committee men and staff inside.

But damage to the club, known to regulars as the engineer's club, is still considerable.

The concert room will be closed for up to ten weeks for refurbishment, but the lounge is open for business and officials are trying to increase its capacity by moving temporary partitions.

Mr Simpson said: "The fire was bad, but it could have been a lot worse. We've got a lot to thank those two lads for.