Mansfield white van heroes use van to rescue couple from a blazing house

Scott Ashworth, 42, and Jamie Dent, 36, reversed their van under the window of a blazing house so that the terrified occupants could escape the flames by jumping onto its roof.

The two workmen saw heavy smoke coming from the drive of the house in Stockport on Tuesday morning as they drove to a job in Manchester.

Self employed shop fitter Scott said: “We were on our way to work and we had just come out of the Peak District when we saw a huge amount of smoke coming out of the front of a house.

“We were at traffic lights and I put my head out of the window and saw a house on fire.

“We drove round and the front door was fully ablaze.

“There was a man and a woman hanging out of the side of the window and another man hanging out of another window.

“We backed up to the window and the two got onto the roof of the van.

The other guy said he could feel his arms burning. By that time someone else had arrived and we told him to jump and caught him.

The fire brigade arrived to put the fire out and got the lady and gentleman off the van roof.

“It was just lucky really, we were going by and had the right size of van.

It was 4.45am and Scott told chad he had overlaid by 15 minutes and had pulled up to fill the van with petrol.

He said:“It was nothing really - it was just a case of using our initiative.

“The fire officer said he couldn’t believe they hadn’t jumped out already the fire was so bad.”

Firecrews eventually extinguished the blaze, which is being treated as arson.

Matt Lewis, crew manager at Offerton station, said: “It was amazing really, a couple of lads were at the traffic lights when they saw it and reversed 50 yards up the drive so they could jump onto it.

“It was a great bit of initiative, a bit of a miracle.

“The men in the van helped then just went on their way to work.”

The three victims who did not want to be named were not seriously harmed.