A woman who rescued a man from his smoke-filled flat was today praised by firemen.

Michelle Heard battled her way through thick smoke to wake her neighbour and help him out of the flat in Dinant Avenue, Canvey.

She then went back into the flat and turned off the cooker and the mains.

But Michelle was too late to rescue Dave Boobyer's pet cockatiel, which died of smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were called to the scene last night by another neighbour who saw smoke billowing from the flat.

They arrived at around 10.40pm but there was no fire although the flat was still smoke-logged.

Leading fireman Nigel Norfolk said: "By the time we got to flat there was no fire but the smoke was fairly thick. We carried out an inspection and made the area safe.

"Michelle acted very bravely in rescuing the old gentleman."

Mr Norfolk said he believed the fire had been caused by a cooking utensil left on the cooker, which was on. The utensil started smoking and filled the flat with smoke.

Dave said today that he had only had Georgie the cockatiel for a year. He had been given the bird as a Christmas present last year and it was well-known in the area for singing Three Blind Mice.

He said: "I had been sitting on the end of my bed waiting for my steak to cook and feeding my dog Amber.

"I nodded off and when I woke up I was surrounded by smoke and Michelle was standing over me."

Michelle then got him Staffordshire bull terrier Amber out of the house.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.