A MAN rescued from a fire at his Warndon flat claims he nearly died because a housing association did not replace a faulty smoke detector.

Terry Burfitt was pulled semi-conscious from his Buttermere Drive home by fire fighters during a chip pan blaze (left) early on Saturday morning.

He was amazed when Worcester Community Housing, which owns the property, finally fitted a new alarm hours after the blaze.

Mr Burfitt's kitchen was heavily damaged by acrid smoke that filled the ground floor flat and left him needing help from paramedics.

But he said it could have been far worse if neighbours had not been woken by the blaze.

Lucky

"Looking at the state of the place, I'm lucky. It was an accident but it could have led to my life going," said the 42-year-old, who is partially deaf.

"The fire alarm wasn't any good and I went to see Worcester Community Housing to complain. That was last October and they didn't do anything.

"Then they put a new alarm in on Saturday instead of coming out to do it last year - it needed a fire to sort it out. That's not good enough."

Neighbours alerted emergency services just before 1am on Saturday after smelling smoke coming from a chip pan fire at Mr Burfitt's flat.

Fire crews forced their way into the home and used breathing apparatus and thermal imaging equipment to find him asleep on his sofa.

"The next thing I know I am lying on the grass outside with a mask on my face.

"I thought it was a wind up at first but they said it was a fire," said Mr Burfitt, who is unemployed because he suffers from Meniere's Disease, a complaint of the inner ear.

Worcester Community Housing, which took ownership of Mr Burfitt's home when it bought all of the city's council housing last April, said there was no record of a faulty detector.