A man and a woman escaped a house fire by the 'skin of their teeth' last night, in the same street where a man died in a blaze just ten days ago.

Three fire crews from King's Lynn attended the blaze in Alice Fisher Crescent, King's Lynn, at about 11.30pm.

The fire occurred at a house just 100 yards away from, and on the same side of the street, as another home where a man died earlier this month.

Bob Ayers, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service station manager for King's Lynn, said two people had got out of the home 'by the skin of their teeth', before the fire service arrived.

'A girl in one bedroom smelt smoke and woke up a man in a separate bedroom, where the fire was raging,' he said.

'They rushed downstairs to get out, but the man had to go back upstairs into his bedroom to get the front door key.

'I've seen some sights in my 27 years with the service, but I don't think I've ever seen someone so blackened by fire, or so affected by smoke inhalation - the amount of smoke he took in was incredible - although he was not burned.

'If the girl had not smelled the smoke, we could have been looking at two more fatalities.'

Both of them were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn suffering from smoke inhalation.

As reported, one man in his 40s, who has been named locally as Chris Flegg, died in a first-floor bedroom fire in Alice Fisher Crescent, at 6.20am on January 14, while his mother, Carol, was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

Did you see what happened last night? Email david.bale2@archant.co.uk