A YOUNG mum has praised a neighbour who became a hero for the second time in a month when he rescued her family from a blazing house.

Anthea Parsons, 31, said rescuer Nigel Clegg was a "hero" who deserved to be heaped with praise for his brave actions.

Nigel, 44, of Stanley Street, Bacup, dashed to the rescue when he saw Anthea's son, Dalton, 11 and nephew David, 12, stuck on the roof of the terraced house in nearby Gordon Street, after the blaze broke out just after 8am yesterday.

Brave Nigel used ladders to scale on to the roof of the burning building, in the street just behind his house, and pull the boys to safety.

Anthea, 31, said: "I just want to say thank-you to Nigel for what he has done. He is an absolute hero and has saved the boys' lives. I am so grateful to him."

Only last month handy-man Nigel was praised after he rescued a family of five from the roof of a burning house in Abbey Street, which is also close to his home.

Celia Lynch, 24, baby Jim, two, and friends Vicky Ticehurst, 15, PJ Goodwin, six, and Aaron Goodwin, 12 months, were asleep in the house when a blaze broke out in the kitchen in the early hours of April 17.

They were woken by the sound of baby Jim's screams to a smoke-filled house and managed to clamber through a skylight on to the roof.

Nigel then carried the group one one by one to the safety of the ground. All five were unhurt. Neither of the two fires is being treated as suspicious. The first blaze was a kitchen fire and yesterday's is still being investigated.

Father-of-five Nigel said: "In a situation like that where people's lives are in danger you just act on instinct and do what needs to be done. Luckily, I had the ladders in the front garden so I could get to the house quickly."

Nigel is married to Beverley, 40, and has five children, John Paul, 22, Lee, 20, Nigel, 15, Sarah, 13, and Michael, 12.