AN unconscious pensioner was rescued from his smoke-filled flat after his cooker caught fire.

The man, who was in his 70s, was unconscious in a chair as smoke crept lower and lower around him in his flat on Ajax Avenue in Longford during the fire on Wednesday night.

By the time fire crews found him the smoke was at his chest level, leaving him breathing the toxic fumes, and dropping quickly.

He was carried from the house by firefighters Howie Talbot and Dawn Morris, who found him in his living room.

The man was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene and is currently being treated at Warrington Hospital.

His smoke alarms had gone off during the fire, but had not woken the man.

It was his neighbours in the flat below who called 999, shortly before 9pm. By the time fire crews arrived smoke was billowing from the flat’s windows.

“If it had been much longer it would have been a very different story,” said firefighter Talbot.

The fire broke out after the man fell asleep with food cooking in the oven.

His home was considerably damaged by smoke.

Four firefighters went into the flat, wearing breathing apparatus, and fought the fire with a hose reel jet.

They used a positive pressure ventilation fan, which removes smoke within seconds, to clear the flat.