A SOUTHAMPTON man has praised firefighters after he was among five residents they rescued from a fire in flats.

Firefighters battled through thick smoke when the blaze broke out in a ground-floor flat in Hepworth Close, Sholing, leaving one person in hospital being treated for the effects of smoke inhalation.

One of the residents told how firefighters led him to safety.

He said: “I realised something was going on when I smelled smoke. I went to the door and I saw thick smoke so I shut it and went back inside.

“I opened my door again and there was a fireman standing at the door. He said to me, ‘You’ve got to get out’.

The man was taken down the smoke-filled stairwell by the fire crews who gathered residents outside following the fire at 9.45pm on Sunday.

Praising fire crews, the man added: “They knew what they were doing and they were excellent. They could have not done any better.”