A MIDDLE aged man is lucky to be alive after firefighters forced their way into a smoke-filled home at Chandler's Ford.

The drama happened when fire crews were called in after a smoke alarm was trigggered off at the semi-detached house in Calshot Drive, Valley Park.

Fire crews from Eastleigh entered the smoke-filled ground floor and discovered a man on a sofa, who had been overcome by smoke.

He was rescued and taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

The fire had been contained to a cooker and was out on arrival. There was minimal smoke damage to the ground and first floor.

Crew manager Paul Riddell of Blue Watch said the smoke detector, which was linked to a monitoring centre, saved the man's life.

Mr Riddell said the incident, in the early hours underlined the message about the importance of fitting smoke detectors.

He added: "It is also a warning not to leave cooking unattended, particularly at night."