A man suffered burns to his hands when he threw a blazing gas heater out of a house.

John and Gwen Double yesterday said if it was not for the quick response by fitter George Green - and the fact they had a smoke alarm - their bungalow in Whinfield Avenue, Dovercourt, could have been badly damaged.

Mr Green, an employee of K&M Services of Oakley Road, Dovercourt, had just fitted a new gas cylinder to a portable heater in the Doubles' conservatory.

But while he was having coffee with Mrs Double on Tuesday, the smoke alarm went off.

Mrs Double said: "There was this sudden screech and the cats were going everywhere.

"I walked into the living room and hit a barrier of smoke.

"I can see now how people can die from the effects of smoke because it was choking.

"I then saw the heater which was like a fireball."

Despite flames several feet high, Mr Green picked up the blazing heater and threw it in the garden while Mrs Double got damp towels to put out the fire on the carpet.

She said: "When we had got all the flames out we realised George had burned his hands.

"We just stood there, both as white as a sheet."

Mr Green later received treated at Harwich Hospital.

It is believed the rubber tube which connected the cylinder to the fire was worn and that leaking gas had ignited.

Mrs Double, whose 52-year-old husband was at work at the time, praised Mr Double's bravery and stressed the importance of having a smoke alarm.

Firemen from Dovercourt found smoke damage to the conservatory and the heater destroyed.

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