A HAVE-A-GO hero turned down for a job as a fire- fighter rescued his cousin from a burning building.

Quick-thinking Andrew Holden clambered on top of a discarded fridge freezer and brought 14-year-old Stacey Doyle to safety when she became trapped in a bedroom at her burning home.

The upstairs of the semi, in Dalton Street, Middleton, was engulfed by flames when a petrol container exploded in her brother Michael's bedroom. The 18-year-old suffered burns to his face and hands but ran out the house and escaped the blaze while his sister remained asleep in the next-door room.

The schoolgirl woke to hear her family screaming to her from outside. Andrew, 27, who lives down the road, heard the commotion and ran upstairs to try to reach her, but was knocked back by the heat.

He found a ladder but it was too short to reach the first floor so he and his dad hauled a discarded fridge freezer across the garden and put the ladder on top. He was then able to pull his cousin to safety.

Andrew, who applied for a job as a firefighter 18 months ago but did not make it through the selection process, said: "I only had a few moments to think.

Engulfed

"I tried to go to her room but the landing was engulfed by fire and the heat was too intense so I shouted at her to get to a window. When the ladder wouldn't reach I shouted at her to jump but she wouldn't. Then I spotted the fridge."

Stacey said: "I was hysterical when I woke up. Andrew was so quick thinking - we're lucky to have made it out alive."

Two bedrooms were gutted and the rest of the house suffered serious smoke damage.

Andrew said that he was now considering re-applying for a job with the fire service.

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