OAP trapped as fire rips through home

A grandfather was today fighting for his life after a blaze engulfed his home in the Black Country.

The pensioner, named locally as Barry Allen, screamed “I’m burning” as neighbours tried to save him.

Mr Allen, 65, could be seen hanging out of the window shouting for help as flames tore through the three-storey house in Teme Road, Halesowen, at 1.20am. Neighbours tried to guide Mr Allen to safety down a stepladder but he could not see it because of the smoke.

The force of the fire blew out all the windows at the front and melted the front door. Twenty firefighters battled the flames and rescued the man.

Police have launched an investigation and say the cause of the fire is unexplained. Mr Allen’s condition was today described as critical. Neighbours described how they were woken by another resident in the street yelling that Mr Allen’s house was on fire.

Claire Wilding, 35, who was staying with her partner Damien Williams, said: “About 1am myself and my partner heard his next-door neighbour in the street shouting ‘Barry, wake up there’s a fire’.

“My partner had a look out the window and then we both went into the street. There was thick black smoke everywhere and all of a sudden I saw Damien come running round the front of Barry’s house yelling at people to get some ladders but we could only find a step ladder.

“Suddenly in front of my eyes the front door completely melted. I went round the back of the house and Barry was hanging out of the back window but he couldn’t see the ladder because of all the thick smoke.”

Widower Mr Allen, who has three children, is said to have lived in the street for 40 years. A close friend, 81, who did not want to be named, said: “I’ve heard he’s not in good way.”

Two other homes were evacuated. Residents in the other houses moved back in once the fire was extinguished.

West Midlands Fire Service spokesman Phil Loach said it had been a very severe blaze.