Rescued just in time

NEARLY DEADLY: Firefighters at a house fire in Carlton Ave early yesterday morning.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

A senior Wanganui firefighter is urging people to ensure their smoke alarms are working properly after a man was pulled unconscious from a burning house early yesterday morning.

Senior station officer Bryce Coneybeer from Whanganui Fire Service said the man was "very, very lucky" to be alive after the fire, which took hold about 12.30am in a house on the corner of Carlton Ave and Watkin St.

"The house did have smoke alarms but they were not working because they didn't have batteries," Mr Coneybeer said.

He said fire crews arrived to find a "rapidly developing fire".

"The guys went straight inside and searched the place, and found a man in the lounge who was either asleep or incapacitated due to smoke inhalation.

"They dragged him out unconscious and did CPR on him until the ambulance arrived. He was taken to hospital in a serious condition."

A spokeswoman for Whanganui Hospital said yesterday the man was recovering and was in a stable condition.

Mr Coneybeer said firefighters put the fire out quickly but stayed at the property until after 4am to ensure it was completely extinguished. The cause of the blaze has been established but Mr Coneybeer said it had not been officially confirmed yet.

"We do know there was nothing suspicious."

He said the man only survived because of the quick actions of firefighters.

"They did a very good job of locating the man and getting him out as quickly as possible."

Mr Coneybeer said initially there was some concern over the whereabouts of other house occupants, but they were found to be safe and at another address. He said he could not emphasise enough the importance of properly working smoke alarms.

"If you don't know how to change the batteries or test the batteries in your smoke alarms, give us a call and we can help.

"We'd rather do that than have to pull you out of a burning building," Mr Coneybeer said.