A WAREHAM man died after a discarded cigarette set fire to his Wareham flat on Tuesday night.

Emergency services were scrambled to Robert Christmas House, Christmas Close, just after 9.30pm and found heavy smoke billowing from the building.

Fire crews pulled a 61-year-old man from the blaze and attempts were made to resuscitate him.

An ambulance rushed the man to Poole Hospital but he was pronounced dead shortly before 11.30pm.

Fire investigators said an ashtray containing a partially lit cigarette had fallen on to a chair and set it ablaze.

They said the man's old-style 1980s furniture had ignited quickly and produced "thick, acrid smoke".