A 75-year-old man is “lucky to be alive” after his house caught fire.

Engines from Idle and Fairweather Green were called to the cottage at the end of Heaton Road at 11.30pm yesterday, and on arrival saw smoke billowing out of the house and onto the street.

Neighbours had persuaded the man, the sole occupant, to leave the house after he initially tried to put the blaze out himself.

Firefighters in breathing gear took around two hours to put out the fire, believed to have started by a lit cigarette dumped in a kitchen bin before the man went to bed.

There were no smoke alarms in the property, but luckily the elderly man had smelt the smoke from his bedroom before falling asleep.

He was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, and was given a temporary place to stay by the Red Cross.

The fire had destroyed most of the kitchen.

Fairweather Green watch commander Ronnie Goldwater said: “He is very, very lucky to be alive.”