Man rescued by firefighters after bedroom blaze in Rowley Regis home

He had woken in the early hours to find his bedroom filled with choking smoke at the mid-terrace property in Bluestone Walk, Rowley Regis.

The man managed to raise the alarm by phone but was overcome by the fumes before he could get out of the property.

A crew from Oldbury fire station were on the scene within five minutes and two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus found him lying unconscious on the upstairs landing floor.

They carried him outside where colleagues immediately started to revive him with oxygen.

Paramedics arrived at the scene moments later and took over care of the casualty.

The unnamed man regained consciousness before being taken to hospital where he was expected to make a good recovery. Firefighters also saved his Staffordshire Bull Terrier dog which was reported as being 'fine' after the ordeal.

The man was the only person at the address when the drama started at around 1am and fire crews said the outcome could have been very different if the man had not woken when he did. It appeared there had not been a working fire alarm at the address.

Fifteen fire fighters from three stations - Oldbury, Haden Cross and Smethwick - were at the scene for up to three hours but arrived so quickly the fire damage was confined to the bedroom although the remainder of the house suffered smoke damage. The cause is under investigation.

Crew Commander Mike Hawksbury explained: "We had to force entry to the property which was heavily smoke logged when we got there.

"Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus found the casualty lying unconscious on the floor outside his bedroom. He had been overcome by the smoke and was carried out of the building.

"He was then passed to firefighters outside the house who gave him oxygen. An ambulance arrived very shortly afterwards and the paramedics took over care of the casualty. He recovered consciousness before being taken to hospital."