A LOCAL man has recounted rescuing an elderly gentleman, when he discovered his bungalow on fire on Bank Holiday Monday (August 27).

Dan Climo, 31, was in nearby fields — where his sons and stepdaughter keep turkeys — when he could smell electrical or plastic burning.

He saw a bungalow a few houses from his parents’ with smoke coming from the bedroom window, and he said he knew the 87-year-old occupant would have been inside.

Dan found the man unconscious and pulled him out, adding: “The whole house, it went up, it was in the loft and all the slates were exploding with the heat. Another couple of minutes in there he would have been a goner.”

Dan was told by fire crews that the man he saved had inhaled a lot of smoke, and Dan said the gentleman had burnt his hands badly.

On realising the bungalow was on fire, Dan explained: “I could smell like electrical or plastic burning. I’m the owner of Tintagel Skip Hire, we come across stuff like that occasionally, I had smelt it before and thought something was wrong.

“Luckily the fields look down on the house that was on fire so I could see a lot of black smoke billowing up from his bedroom window.

“I jumped over his wall, ran down the side of the property. A lot of smoke was coming out the property. I just ran into the burning building. It was just pouring out with black smoke.

“I found him half in his bedroom and half out, unconscious. I pulled him out, went right out and down over the steps and saved his life really. Even the fire brigade said that he had taken in a lot of smoke and that was why he was unconscious.

“I don’t think it sunk in really ‘til that evening — it was a bit of an eye opener. I’m still in shock really. I’ve had a lot of praise from the fire brigade and different people.”

Dan said he understands the cause of the fire was an electric blanket that was left on, and said there were no fire alarms in the bungalow.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said an officer who attended the incident advised ‘this was an aged electric blanket left turned on’.

A spokesperson for Wadebridge Community Fire Station, among the crews mobilised to the incident, said: “A brave neighbour had rescued an elderly male casualty from the property before the arrival of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service. Please make sure your homes have working smoke alarms and that they are tested regularly!”