A BUILDER risked his life when he saved a mum from a blazing bedroom on Tuesday night.

Eagle-eyed Dale Reynolds, 41, spotted smoke coming from the windows of a house opposite the White Bull pub in New Lane, Osowaldtwistle, where he was having a pint.

Inside the house, mum Sarah Clough, 30, of Willow Park, had been watching television with a number of tea-light candles burning in her bedroom.

While she was asleep a curtain blew into one of the candles, catching fire within seconds.

Her partner William smelled smoke coming from upstairs and dashed to get the couple's six-month-old baby Joshua, who was in a cot upstairs, out of the house.

Meanwhile, Dale, 41, of nearby Eagle Street, raced across the road to help.

Braving the smoke and flames, he rushed upstairs to rescue Miss Clough.

Helped by another passer-by, he managed to put out the fire with a bucket of water and get her out of the house.

But Dale, who is self-employed, has since played down any suggestions that he is a hero.

He said: "I had come back from work and had just nipped out for a quick pint. I was sitting in the beer garden and I could see and smell the smoke.

"I ran across the road and saw a man coming out with a baby. I managed to go in with somebody else that I don't know and we managed to get the woman out.

"By the time I got there the curtains were gone and the flames had spread to the bed and the carpet. I am not a hero as I was just acting on instinct.

"The Fire Brigade came and had to give the other man oxygen, but he was all right and he then left.

"When I got back to the pub they gave me a Thwaites T-shirt. I had heard on the radio a few days earlier about some kids being trapped in a burning house. I just hope someone would do the same for me."

Dale is married to Lorraine and has two children Casey, 14, and Jenna, 12.

White Bull landlord Ian Smith said: "When Dale came back he didn't say much about it, but I have been pulling his leg and calling him Fireman Sam."

A spokesman for the fire service said: "We were called out at around 7.51pm. Fortunately, no-one was seriously hurt in this incident. We understand there is a smoke alarm at the house but the householders had taken the batteries out."