The manager of a backpackers' hostel in Oxford has been praised by firemen after he climbed into the roof space and used an extinguisher to stop a fire spreading.

Fifty people, many wearing their night clothes and wrapped in duvets, were evacuated from Oxford Backpackers Hostel in Hythe Bridge Street at 4.20am today after the fire alarm sounded.

New Zealander Ayron Bowring, who manages the hostel, climbed on to a table then removed a tile from the ceiling to get to the fire, which had started in a pipe leading from a laundry room.

Mr Bowring said: "If I hadn't caught it early the whole place could have gone up really easily. Given a couple of minutes, it could have taken off."

He said the evacuation of the building had gone smoothly. Guests gathered on the pavement outside the building and on the other side of the road.

"A couple of the staff went around all the rooms and got everyone out in a couple of minutes. It was a piece of cake," he added.

Station officer Mark Griffin, of Oxfordshire Fire Service, said Mr Bowring was to be commended for his actions.

The fire started in a ducting pipe which led upwards into the roof space from tumble dryers.

Station Officer Griffin said there had been a fault in a fan which had overheated and caught fire.

The fire was out when the brigade arrived, but firefighters used thermal-imaging equipment was used to make sure the fan had cooled down.

Mr Bowring, who lives in the hostel, has been its manager for the past six months.

He has lived in this country for a year-and-a-half.