A heroic passer-by scaled a six-foot fence and used a washing up bowl to douse flames after seeing an elderly man’s porch was ablaze.
Ross Stallion, from Bournemouth, filmed the entire ordeal after spotting black smoke pouring from the house as he drove past last Tuesday.
He had been out on a test-drive with a potential buyer for his wife’s car when he pulled over and peered over the fence.
By that point, the man was watching the flames engulf his home, with Ross asking him: “Your house is definitely on fire - can I help you?”
The magazine owner then jumped over the fence and used a washing-up bowl from the man’s kitchen in an effort to put out the fire before tackling it with a garden hose.
At one point in the dramatic 90-second video, Ross, who is from the seaside town, calls himself “Fireman Sam”.
He said: “I’m so glad I was able to help him out - that’s a good feeling.
"He just looked shocked. I could see he didn’t know what to do. He was literally in this fire, just looking at it.
"I don't think he realised what was happening until I said, 'your house is on fire, you need help'.
"I just ran in, at the time I didn't know if the fire service had been called. His house would 100% have burned down if I hadn't done that.
"The whole back of his house was well alight, and would easily have gone up. It might have got the neighbour's house as well."
Ross spotted the fire in the Townsend area at around 2.30pm.
He said the “elderly” man later explained he had been burning rubbish in a special bin with a funnel when it exploded because of aerosols in the waste.
Flames reaching at least 20-foot high had then engulfed the wooden porch after it was sprayed with the burning chemicals, according to Ross.
The man had walked through the burning doorway to fill up a bowl with water when Ross stopped to help.
He then borrowed a hose pipe from a neighbour because the man was unable to tell him where to find his own.
It took around a minute to extinguish the blaze, said Ross, who added that he was back in the car having cuts and bruises bandaged by the potential buyer when the fire service arrived.
“All the man’s neighbours were there so I knew it was okay to leave him,” said Ross, who then went home to his wife Gemma, 43, and their children.
He added: “I’m generally someone who would stop and help out.
"I wouldn’t have done anything different, and it definitely added some excitement to my day.”
Mirror Online has approached Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service for further information about the incident.
