A regional press photographer has told how he launched a daring rescue bid after spotting two people trapped in a dramatic house blaze.

Dave Charnley, (35), from the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough, had been walking back to his car from an assignment nearby when he saw plumes of thick black smoke.

He said: "I saw smoke and thought it must be some tyres on fire. I went to see where it was coming from and was confused as to what was going on as there was no-one around.

"Then I spotted two people hanging out of a window."

The photographer (pictured above) immediately put his camera down and grabbed a table from a nearby garden.

He then placed it underneath the first-floor window, climbed on to it and tried to persuade the trapped pair to jump into his arms.

Dave said: "I had called 999 when I first spotted the smoke and my heart was pounding at 100 miles an hour. It was a horrible feeling.

"It was a blazing inferno. The building was made of timber and it had caught very rapidly."

Luckily, neighbours had also seen the smoke and, arriving at the scene with a ladder, they helped the uninjured couple to safety.

Feeling that his job had been done, Dave then picked up his camera and began documenting what was happening - giving the paper a front-page story with more pictures inside.

Dave said: "I did everything I could to help and I just thank God that no-one was hurt."

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