A MAN had a lucky escape early this morning after a fire broke out in his kitchen while he dozed off.

Fire-fighters were called to a ground floor flat, in St Andrew's Road, in Southampton city centre, just before 4am after neighbours heard his fire alarm.

The man had slept through the sounding of the alarm while smoke from burning pans on his cooker filled his home.

He was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Crew manager Peter Bates, from St Mary’s Fire Station, said: “It was only really the actions of the neighbours hearing the alarm and reacting to it that managed to wake him up.”