Firefighters said today that a couple owe their lives to smoke alarms after a blaze broke out in their first-floor flat in Wood Street, Bognor, last night.

A woman who escaped after being woken by the smoke alarm said she had tried to rouse her partner but had to flee because of the choking smoke, leaving him in the lounge.

Firefighters from Bognor and Chichester found the man and led him to safety. He was treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.

A spokesman said: "It is likely that if smoke alarms had not been fitted the two occupants could have perished."