A MAN who escaped a blaze in his mobile home has spoken of his anger that an emergency fire hosepipe on his doorstep was not working.

Builder Jimmy Ford, 21, woke up coughing to find his static caravan at Grange Park, Shamblehurst Lane, Hedge End, in flames.

He climbed out of a bedroom window and needed treatment at Southampton General Hospital for smoke inhalation and cuts to his hands.

Residents who were first on the scene say they could have had the fire under control if a water pipe had not burst when they pulled an emergency hose reel from its housing next to the caravan.

Instead they had to wait for fire crews from Hightown and Botley to arrive, by which time fire had ripped through the mobile home.

Mr Ford, who is now staying at his parents' house, said: "I am angry the hose reel didn't work. If it had worked then we could have stopped the fire getting as far as it did.

"I woke up coughing. When I smelt the smoke, I smashed the window at the back and came out."

Next-door neighbour Tracy Dominey, 31, said: "I think the whole thing is a shambles. If maintenance had been kept up and the reel was working, they probably would have got the fire under control because it was just a small blaze when they first discovered it."

Heat from the inferno, which started just before 2am last Tuesday, caused damage to neighbours' property on both sides up to 10ft away, melting window frames, guttering and plastic on the outside of one car as well as shattering two windows.

Neighbour Amanda Grace, 47, said: "My whole kitchen was glowing bright orange, and when I walked into it the heat started to singe the hairs on my arm. The firemen said they don't know how there wasn't a fatality."

A spokesman for Eastleigh council, which owns the site, said: "The hydrant nearest to the caravan that caught fire was tested on Friday, March 29 and worked. When checked after the fire however, it was found to be faulty. It has been repaired and is now serviceable."

Investigators are probing the cause of the blaze.