A pensioner was in a critical condition in hospital last night after his clothes caught fire as he tried to tackle a blaze at his house.
Two neighbours went to Charlie Brown’s aid after smoke was spotted billowing from his Aberdeenshire home.
The 71-year-old was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with burns following the incident.
He was in a “critical but stable” condition last night.
Neighbours Stuart Woods and Andy Kilby ran to help him after realising his house was on fire and wrapped him in a wet blanket until and ambulance arrived.
Paving worker, Mr Woods, 24, said: “I was just having a fag and heard an alarm, I just happened to turn and look and there was smoke, it was coming out of his kitchen doors.
“I went down and looked in his window, then I ran back and got the fire extinguisher out of the shed and ran back to his house.”
Mr Woods went inside the property in Ellon’s Esslemont Circle and discovered a fire in the living room.
He said: “Charlie was coming through with a bowl of water and must have been trying to use that to put the fire out.
“I don’t think he realised he was on fire. He was coming through the living room so I used the fire extinguisher on him to put it out.”
Mr Brown’s next door neighbour, Andy Kilby, and his fiancee, Cath Raven, also ran to help.
Mr Kilby, 45, said: “It was about 7.15am that I heard an alarm going off and I thought it was my son’s alarm, my fiancee went down and saw Stuart running past and back with a fire extinguisher.
“We just saw black smoke billowing out of the windows and doors. Charlie was lucky he never got overcome by the smoke, it might have been a different story.”
The father-of-two, who works at the Co-op shop in Ellon, added: “Charlie came out of the back door and there was still flames on his clothes. My girlfriend called an ambulance and we kept him in our garden.
“We kept him damp and five minutes after that the paramedics turned up. I just thought ‘lets get something wet put around him’, because his stuff was still smouldering.”
Mr Kilby added he had only ever done “a bit of basic first aid”.
He said that Mr Brown had “burns on his back, from the shoulder blades down”, adding: “I had to cut his jumper off him.
“He was in shock, he wasn’t screaming and if you asked him questions he answered.
“It’s been a bit of a commotion, I just hope the boy is alright.”
Mr Kilby’s son, Taylor, 17, was not at home when the fire started and his daughter moved out earlier this year.
Mr Brown is understood to live alone, but is believed to have a son and a daughter.
Mr Woods, who lives in the street with his mother, his girlfriend Stacey Legge, her daughter Kelsie Legge and their son Aaron Woods, .said: “We did ask if it was a fag, Charlie said no, all he said was it was a bit of paper that caught fire.”
The cause of yesterday morning’s blaze was still being investigated last night.
David Rout, fire and rescue area manager and local senior officer for Aberdeenshire, said two Ellon crews arrived to find a “well developed fire within the living room of the property”.
They used breathing apparatus and hose-reel jets to tackle the blaze and ventilation fans were later used to clear the house of smoke.
Detective Constable Phil Wu said: “There is no indication that there was any suspicious circumstances.
“The neighbours have been extremely helpful and co-operative in the investigations.”
Firefighters had the blaze under control by 9.20am.
A joint investigation into the incident is being carried out by the fire brigade and police.