A father has described how residents cheered and applauded after he rescued a woman from a burning building in Maidstone.

Lee Stych, 47, battled black smoke and overwhelming heat to pull the unconscious woman to safety, after a blaze broke out at an apartment block in Wallis Avenue early yesterday evening.

Mr Stych, who is homeless, was on his way to the GP when he noticed people staring at the block and a neighbour called out that a someone was still inside a ground floor flat, which had been affected by the fire. A dog had already made its escape.

With no emergency services anywhere to be seen, Mr Stych bravely entered the building, with a shirt wrapped around his head for protection.

The fog was so thick that he couldn't see six feet in front and didn't spot the woman, leaving to him to retreat, before running in again.

"It was obvious no one was going to help me so I just ran. She was in the sitting room face down and unconscious. I pulled her arms.

"It was extremely hard, I was close to not being able to get her out of the door. The smoke was so acrid and the heat was overwhelming," he said.

'I couldn't have lived with myself if I could have helped someone and didn't...'

The rescue took about three minutes.

Smoke was billowing from the nearby bedroom and two minutes after Mr Stych left the flat, the door was engulfed in flames.

"There would have been no way of getting her out then," he said.

"I was apprehensive the first time but I thought I couldn't have lived with myself if I could have helped someone and didn't. I think it's something that anybody should have done." the father-of-three said.

Once away from the flames, Mr Stych placed the woman in the recovery position and checked her heart beat. The fire service arrived about 10 minutes later.

As he was walking away, about 40 onlookers clapped and cheered Mr Stych, leaving him feeling proud.

Firefighters were called at 6.20pm yesterday and used breathing apparatus to enter the building and fight the flame. Two flats were affected and a person was treated for breathing in smoke.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and crews left the area shortly before 9pm.

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