FIREFIGHTERS rescued an unconscious man from his smoke-filled Bolton flat.
Neighbours fled the flats in Columbia Road, Heaton, last night when smoke alarms alerted them to a blaze just before midnight.
But they told firefighters that Jim Cotgrave, 43, was still trapped inside.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had to break down his flat door and crawl around the floor to find him.
Mr Cotgrave was carried out and given oxygen but refused hospital treatment.
The fire is believed to have started in a chip pan.
Station officer Wayne Shields said: "Again this case shows how valuable smoke alarms can be."
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