A HEROIC roofer battled smoke and flames to rescue his elderly neighbour after fire ravaged through the pensioner's bungalow.

As soon as Vince Urry spotted smoke billowing from the corner of a front window he kicked open the front door, grabbed 68-year-old Harry Hall and carried him to safety.

The pensioner was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, suffering from smoke inhalation and hand burns after the blaze at his home in Fieldmore Road, Gosport, yesterday afternoon.

Mr Urry said: "I kicked the door and it flew open, walked five feet into the hallway and picked the man up.

"I could hardly see but I could feel his woolly jumper. I carried him to the hallway of another neighbour's house. I took my shirt off so he could rest his head on it."

The rush of cold air from the open front door fanned the flames causing the front windows of Mr Hill's bungalow to shatter sending shards of glass flying.

The 39-year-old said: "I didn't really think. I just wanted to get the man out. I could have gone in there and died and people would have said it was foolhardy of me.

"But in the two minutes the firefighters took to come the man could have died."

Emergency services set up an exclusion zone around the property after fears oxygen cylinders - used by Mr Hill for his emphysema - could spark an explosion.

Police cordoned off nearby Dorrien Road and Foxlea Gardens after the blaze started at 4pm.

The fire caused extensive damage to the house and its roof. The cause is under investigation.