FIREFIGHTERS said a man was lucky to be alive after an oil dispenser in the Barton fish shop he lived above smoked throughout the night sending smoke up into his flat.

Torquay Fire Station Watch Commander Tony Collier said the smoke detector in the flat was not working which meant the sleeping man could have 'drowned in toxic smoke'.

Firefighters say fortunately the man had woken for work and rang the fire brigade when he smelt the smoke coming from Paul's Plaice Fish Shop in Barton Hill Road, just before 7.30am.

Watch Cmdr Collier said the fish shop was 'logged with smoke' from an oil dispenser which had been smoking all night.

"We went into the shop and found the oil dispenser was on fire. We wheeled that outside and used a dry powder extinguisher and water from a hose reel to cool the outside and fans to clear the smoke. It was very hot and it was flaming in the bottom as we wheeled it out," he said.

Four firefighters wore breathing apparatus as they took the smoking oil dispenser out into the street.

Before the fire crew left they fitted a new smoke detector to the flat and the basement and the rear of the ground floor.

"It was very lucky that the gentleman woke up early to go to work because his flat was filling up with smoke and if it had gone on much longer he may have been sleeping while his flat was filling with smoke.

"His detector wasn't working and he could have drowned in the toxic smoke."