A HOMEOWNER had a lucky escape after he fell asleep while his deep fat fryer heated up on the hob.

Nigel Ramsey, 33, woke up after just a few minutes to find his bungalow in Ford Lane, Ferndown, full of thick, black smoke.

Gasping for breath, he attempted to extinguish the blaze himself using damp tea towels before alerting fire crews, who arrived within minutes and swiftly put out the fire.

"If I'd known that the fire service would have been here so quickly, I would never have attempted to deal with it myself," he said.

"They were absolutely fantastic. I was so impressed. They managed to calm me down since I was in a pretty bad state and terrified of what was going on."

Mr Ramsey needed treat-ment for smoke inhalation and his home was severely damaged by smoke following the fire.

Shortly afterwards, fire crews returned to Mr Ram-sey's home, bearing gifts of a brand new thermostatically-controlled fryer and two smoke alarms.

Ferndown watch manager John Lewis said the damage to the home would have been greatly reduced if Mr Ramsey had had smoke detectors installed.

"We do not advise people to attempt to put out fires but to always get out, stay out and call the fire service out'," he said.

"In this case it was very fortunate that no-one was hurt and this is largely due to Mr Ramsey dealing with the fire correctly by placing a damp, not wet, tea towel over the pain and to turn the heat off when it is safe to do so."