A DAD saved the life of his six year old daughter by dropping her from an upstairs bedroom window as a fierce fire ripped through their Brooklands home.

Richard Walker braved intense heat and smoke when he rushed upstairs to rescue his sleeping daughter, Amberley.

The 48 year-old dad grabbed the little girl out of bed and dropped her 15 feet out of the window to a passer-by, 19 year-old Paul McColgan. Then Richard jumped out himself.

Amberley was unhurt except for suffering the effects of smoke inhalation. But her dad suffered severe burns to his hands, head and face in carrying out the dramatic rescue. He is being treated in the burns unit at Withington Hospital where his condition is described as 'satisfactory'.

Richard's two sons Michael, 12, and Richard, four, and a friend Andrew Strong, 12, were also in the house on Tunshill Road when the fire broke out in the lounge. Dad Richard was in the kitchen with Michael and Andrew when he realised there was a fire, at about 9.15pm on Monday.

He told the two older boys to get out and rescued Richard, who was downstairs, before rushing to save his daughter. Young Richard suffered the effects of smoke inhalation.

All the casualties were treated at the scene by paramedics.

A firefighter later suffered burns as he tackled the blaze.

Assistant divisional officer Dave Priest, from Sale fire station, says: "Richard performed heroically - without his heroics his daughter would have died.

"Unfortunately in rescuing his daughter and attempting to tackle the fire he suffered severe burns and also damage to his airways.

"He had to contend with intense heat and smoke - the intensity of the fire is

shown by the fact that a firefighter suffered slight burns around his neck from radiated heat."

Passerby Paul, of nearby Dorchester Drive, was walking with his girlfriend, Simone Brooks, and dog, Rosa, when they spotted the fire. He saw smoke billowing out as Richard opened the front door and put his son outside, before heading back into the house. Simone rushed to her sister's house nearby to call 999, while Paul rushed towards the fire to help: "The smoke was too thick for me to go in and I knew he wouldn't be able to get back out that way, so I ran around the side of the house and I heard screaming.

"I jumped over a seven and a half foot fence to get into the garden and I saw the man upstairs with a kid, shouting for help from a window.

"I told him to throw the girl to me. He threw her and I caught her. She was screaming and crying her eyes out."

Paul, a technician at Stones dental laboratory in Sale adds: "I am just glad we decided to walk the dog that night and I was there to help."

Richard's wife, Bernice - who was out when the drama happened - told SAM she is very relieved her children are safe.

The injured firefighter was treated at Wythenshawe Hospital.

The blaze gutted the ground floor, hall, stairs and landing.

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