A Mid Sussex man stopped a fire spreading from his neighbours flat by throwing bottles of water at the flames.

Firefighters today praised the man for his quick reactions following the blaze in Ivory Walk, Bewbush, at 4.40am.

Neighbours reported seeing smoke pouring from the windows of a ground-floor flat.

It is believed arsonists smashed a window and threw some sort of device inside, setting light to a pair of curtains.

The quick-thinking neighbour dampened down the flames, stopping the fire spreading before the fire brigade arrived.

Sub Officer Ian Melville, of Crawley fire station, said: "If the man had not thrown in the water there could have been a lot more damage to the flat.

"No one was in the flat at the time but we used breathing apparatus to go in and check."

Mr Melville said the fire damaged about 20 per cent of the flat and the rest was heavily smoke-damaged.

Firefighters are warning people to take extra care when heating oil in frying pans after a nurse left one unattended.

She did not follow safety advice when she discovered it had caught fire at her flat in Fairfield House, West Green Drive, Crawley.

She put it on the floor and threw water over it.

Firefighters were called after the automatic fire alarm in the building, which houses nurses who work at Crawley Hospital, went off.

Sub Officer Ian Melville said: "The woman had left the oil heating and unattended but when she came back and found it alight she threw water on it.

"In these cases people should turn off the heat and throw over a fire blanket or damp tea towel and leave it to cool down."

No one was injured in the fire, which occurred on Wednesday night at about 9.30pm.