A HERO who smashed his way into a burning house to rescue his elderly neighbour has been commended by the fire service.

Brave Steven Hughes, 34, of Bad Bargain Lane, York, pulled his neighbour, Ted Striker, from his burning house in the early hours of February 23.

Mr Hughes was woken up by his neighbour's smoke alarm at 2.30am. He shouted to Mr Striker through the letter box, but when there was no reply, he kicked the door in and fought his way up the stairs through acrid smoke, to find Mr Striker lying on the floor in a back room.

He dragged him to safety while the fire raged in the front bedroom.

Yesterday, deputy chief fire officer Nigel Hutchinson presented Mr Hughes with a Chief Fire Officers' certificate of merit.

He said: "You quite clearly disregarded your own safety. You could have become a victim of the fire yourself, but you made the decision that it was worth risking your life to save someone else's.

"It shows the benefits of smoke alarms because had there not been one in the property then it's likely that the person you rescued wouldn't have been woken and got out of bed, which is where the fire started."

Mr Hughes, a civil servant, said he was honoured to receive the certificate.

"You don't really think at the time, you just do it," he said. "It was pretty scary at the time though. I had to crawl on my hands and knees because the smoke was so thick."

Meanwhile, two firefighters were commended for their part in rescuing a man who had fallen into the River Ouse during the floods in February this year.

Suspecting the man might have drowned by the time the lifeboat was launched, leading firefighters Kevin Caulfield and Jeff Morrow jumped into the flood water by Lendal Bridge, tackling obstacles such as bicycle railings and scaffolding.

Mr Morrow said the man would have only been able to survive for 20 minutes in the water. "It was dark, flooded and the water was very cold," he said.

Mr Caulfield said he was pleased to be commended.

He said: "It's something that we're paid to do but it's always nice to get some recognition."

Mr Morrow said he wanted to thank everyone who helped York Fire Station's green watch raise more than £1,500 for Yorkshire Cancer Research when the firefighters bleached their hair at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet on May 30.

Updated: 10:37 Thursday, June 10, 2004