A QUICK-THINKING motorist has been hailed a hero for dragging a pensioner from his blazing home.

Firefighters say the 84-year-old victim would almost certainly have died if eagle-eyed passer-by Duncan Robinson had not spotted the fire while driving home.

Mr Robinson, an advertising manager at the Gazette, stopped after seeing flames in the window of the house in Thorpe Road, Kirby Cross.

Mr Robinson, 52, said: “At first I thought it was a candle, but then I realised the flame was a bit big, so I reversed up and saw it was a fire.

“The door was open and there was smoke coming out, so I called in and said ‘Are you OK?’ or something like that, and heard a chap say ‘No’.

“He was in his kitchen, which was on fire.”

Mr Robinson had to persuade the man to leave his home, which was filling with acrid fumes. He said: “He wanted to stay and fight the fire but I helped him out, shut the kitchen door and got a chair and a blanket from a neighbour.”

The man was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene by paramedics, then taken to hospital by ambulance.

Mr Robinson, of Poplar Way, Kirby Cross, said: “The smoke set off my asthma, so they gave me some oxygen, but I didn’t need to go to hospital.

“The man seemed to be all right and said ‘thank you very much’. He was quite elderly and used a walking frame, which is why he needed a bit of help getting out.

“But he seemed in remarkably good shape, considering he must have been in there five minutes.”

The fire, on Tuesday evening, is thought to have started in a pan on the cooker. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus took less than 30 minutes to put it out.

Mark Oxley, from Frinton fire station, praised Mr Robinson.

He said: “If it hadn’t been for him, we would have been looking at a fatal incident.

“He said he had to virtually drag the old boy out. He was that reluctant to leave.

“The fact the homeowner is 84 and can only get around with a walking frame meant in another two or three minutes, he wouldn’t have been able to get out.

“I’ve seen elderly people die in fires because they won’t leave.

“Without a doubt he’d have been trapped in the kitchen or hallway.”