FIREFIGHTERS called out to a chimney blaze were amazed to find an elderly man living without electricity or gas.

Chris Griffin had been improvising without power or heat by cooking on his grate when a fire broke out.

It is thought that the pensioner had avoided skyrocketing energy costs for years by burning wood and coal at his home in Upper Shirley.

Bemused firefighters from St Mary's fire station said they could not understand how Mr Griffin had been surviving.

Watch manager Shaun Cheeseman suspected the continual burning of wood for cooking had caked up inside the chimney, which caused the blaze.

He said: "It took us two hours to put out the fire. Only the chimney was damaged.

He had nothing, the poor old fellow. We ended up giving him sleeping things and called social services. He should not have been living like that."

Neighbours claimed the "well turned out recluse" spent summers at home and winters in respite care.

One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "He holds down a job, dresses smartly and is quite an athletic man. He has been in that house since it was built. We see him carrying large pieces of wood and he has about five bags of coal delivered to his house. Another neighbour visited him once and said it was like going back to the 1930s."

After the fire on Friday evening, a social services rapid response team was called to the house and on Saturday a medical team tried and failed to speak to Mr Griffin, who is in his 70s.

Another neighbour said: "I think how he chooses to live is up to him. I think he is connected to gas and electricity supplies but chooses not to use them. I believe he is OK."