A WAREHOUSE worker from Trowbridge said it was pure chance he came home in time to rescue a man from a smoke-filled house.

Stephen Chitty, 40, returned to his home in Frome Road on Saturday night to find smoke pouring out of the kitchen and a fellow tenant asleep in a chair.

Pulling the 38-year-old man to safety, Mr Chitty went back into the house to find the cause of the fire, but was beaten back by the smoke.

He said: "I came home early by chance as I had been out drinking with a few friends. Normally I would have been out all night. If I hadn't come home early he could have been dead.

"When I opened the door there was smoke everywhere. I put my hat over my face and I saw him asleep on a chair.

"You don't think of yourself, you think of getting people out."

Mr Chitty, who works at The Consortium, said flames were leaping out of an oven so he ran back outside and dialled 999.

"The fire engines were there within five minutes.

I was coughing a lot so they gave me an oxygen mask," he said.

"I was shocked and shaken. I had pains in my chest the next day."

Close friend Candy Marples said she was proud of his actions.

"If he hadn't gone home that guy would have been dead. I think he is a bit of a hero.

"When I saw the inside of the house it was like the black hole of Calcutta."

The fire started after a piece of fish was left cooking in an oven.

Three pumping engines were scrambled to the scene, two from Trowbridge and one from Bradford on Avon.

Firefighters managed to bring the kitchen fire under control using a hose reel and breathing apparatus.

Both men were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

A fire brigade spokesman said there was no smoke alarm fitted in the house.

l Parents in west Wiltshire are being urged to keep lighters and matches out of children's reach after a mattress was set ablaze at a house in George Street, Trowbridge, on February 23.

A young boy escaped serious burns after using a lighter to set fire to mattress fabric.

Community safety officer Damien Bence said the occupier managed to douse the flames with water before they spread.

"It was very lucky the fire was in its early stages otherwise it would have been dangerous to tackle," he said.

"In circumstances like this you should only try to extinguish the fire if it is small and undeveloped.

"The best advice is to close all doors, get out of the house and call the fire brigade."