A MAN had a lucky escape after managing to put out a chip pan fire at his home.

Firefighters were called to the blaze in Abingdon after being alerted by neighbours.

Householders living nearby saw smoke coming from the ground floor flat in Caldecott Chase at just after 7pm on Friday. Two fire crews were sent to the scene.

Firefighters discovered the blaze had been caused by a chip pan which was left unattended on an electric cooker.

They said the man in the flat was alerted by a smoke detector and succeeded in extinguishing the fire before firefighters arrived.

He suffered minor smoke inhalation.

Watch Manager Dean Hazell, of Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It was definitely the smoke detector alarm that saved this man’s life.

“A failure to have had an alarm in working order, could have led to a fatal outcome.”