A MEMBER of the public used a hose reel from his garage to put out a blaze on a fire appliance in an amazing role-reversal incident.

The good neighbour in Langfield, Worsthorne came to the rescue when the special environmental protection unit based at Burnley burst into flames when carrying out a safety inspection.

The unit, the only one of its kind in Lancashire and loaded with special gear for dealing with environment-threatening incidents such as chemical spillages, was in a small cul-de-sac in Langfield, Worsthorne, at 8.15pm yesterday when the driver, firefighter Ian Pate, smelled smoke and then saw flames.

The unit carries only a small 1kg extinguisher which Mr Pate, who was alone, realised it was not sufficient to tackle the fire.

Station Officer Steve Cope said: "His radio had blown and but for the help from the member of the public we could have lost the whole lot.

"A local person came out with a hose reel to help. It really turned things on its head, it is supposed to be us who go out to put fires out for the public not the other way round."

The fire was caused by a wiring loom at the back of the unit rubbing on one of the hydraulic pipes until it wore through and shorted, setting fire to plastic ducting, oil and grease.

Another fire appliance was sent out from Burnley and a hose reel was used to finish the job.

Then it was a matter of waiting for mechanics to replace the damaged parts of the machine.

It was four hours before the environment unit could return to the Burnley fire station.