A SOUTHAMPTON couple saved the life of an elderly man whose home was engulfed in smoke following a chip pan blaze at the pensioner's flat in St Mary's last night.

Support worker Lee Baron, 29, and his wife Michelle, 28, woke the sleeping man at his home after fire broke out in the pensioner's kitchen.

The drama took place as firefighters across the city began the second day of their 48-hour pay dispute.

Green Goddesses manned by Royal Naval crews attended the blaze which damaged the man's kitchen and filled the rest of the ground-floor flat with black smoke.

The man, who has not been named, was taken to Southampton General Hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

According to Mr Baron, the pensioner is lucky to be alive.

The blaze began at around 7.15pm as Mr and Mrs Baron were returning from the city's Christmas lights ceremony at Bargate.

As they returned to their home in Ascupart Street, Mr Baron smelt smoke.

He said: "We could not see where it was coming from. I tried to follow the smoke and realised it was coming from next door."

Mr Baron and his wife, who works for the government "Sure Start" scheme, began pounding on the pensioner's door but at first they got no reply.

As Mrs Baron continued banging on the door, Mr Baron telephoned for the emergency services. Just then, the man appeared at the door of his flat, choking from the smoke.

In spite of the danger, the man insisted on going back into his flat to try and rescue his dog. The couple are now looking after the pensioner's dog which was unharmed.

Mr Baron praised the Royal Navy fire crews who attended the blaze.

He said: "From the time they got here, they knew what they were doing and got on with the job."

Meanwhile military firefighters donned breathing apparatus in the early hours this morning during another fire scare.

Jenny Garnes, 41, and her family fled their property in College Road, Woolston, after a table lamp set light to a towel in a bedroom at 2.10am today.

The incident was among more than 20 call- outs in Hampshire during the 12-hour period from 6pm last night.

Navy personnel attended six 999 calls in Southampton which included automatic fire alarms and minor car blazes.

By dawn this morning Green Goddesses had been sent out more than 40 times since the start of the strike on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: ''It was a relatively quiet night without any major incidents.

"About 40 to 50 per cent of the call-outs were to vehicle fires and indications are that most were deliberate.''

In Wiltshire today four people, including two children, died in a fire at a farm house.

The deaths in Wiltshire mean that seven people have now died in fires since the firefighters strike began on Wednesday, although officials say the latest indicent was not connected to the industrial action.

A spokesman for Wiltshire police said that retained firefighters had dealt with the blaze which occurred at an isolated cottage in the hamlet of Stert, near Devizes just after 2am this morning.

"As far as we are concerned it was normal service from the fire service and nothing to do with the dispute. No Green Goddesses were deployed," he said.