A MAN was lucky to escape serious injury in a chip pan blaze at his Torquay home.

About 10 people had to be evacuated from a property in Barton Road, Torquay, in the early hours of yesterday morning after smoke was seen coming from a first-floor flat.

Three pumps were sent to Torre Mount after a member of the public rang to say alarms were sounding throughout the building.

One man, in his early 30s, had to be treated for smoke inhalation by an ambulance crew after escaping the smoke-clogged building.

Crew Commander Clint Hayes said the fire started when the man came home after a night out and had a craving for potato wedges.

After putting the fryer on he went back into the living room and fell asleep, only to be woken by the alarm and a neighbour banging on the door.

He then tried to put the fire out with a damp cloth but it had by then got so far out of control that he only just escaped the room.

Cmdr Hayes said: "Again it was somebody who had gone out for a drink and decided to put the chip pan on when they got home.

"When we got there the man had made his own way out of the building and people living in the rest of the flats had also got out.

"Each flat had an alarm and there were also ones in the hallway so it was well protected.

"It was all the man could do to find his way out of the place because there was severe smoke damage to the kitchen itself and it was very heavily smoke-logged in the rest of the flat.

"He was given oxygen by the ambulance and his hair was singed but he was not hurt.

"If this man had had a free fire safety check he would have known not to bother with the wet cloth and just leave the building.

"Unfortunately, this is something that happens quite often and from a fire safety point of view we do recommend people buy a takeaway instead."