A 75-year-old man who lives on the 12th floor of Madingley block, where the fire was thought to have started today, has been hailed a hero by her neighbour.

The man, who did not want to be named, smelled smoke at about 5pm and went to investigate.

He claimed he saw a woman on the landing, who said "I've had an accident" and ran away. He said he had not seen her since.

He realised the seriousness of the situation and went to alert a neighbour, who is deaf and suffers from severe arthiritis.

Having a key to her flat, for emergencies, he went in and got her out.

The neighbour hailed him a hero, and said without him she would never have known anything was wrong.