A man who accidentally turned his oven on and set fire to his kitchen has his smoke alarm to thank for potentially saving his life.

The man, in his 30s, returned to his house in Millers Road in Brighton yesterday lunchtime and put a box on top of his cooker before inadvertently knocking the dials, turning the hob on.

He left the kitchen none the wiser and returned when his smoke alarm sounded to find it ablaze.

Two engines and the aerial ladder platform from Preston Circus Community Fire Station attended the fire as two firefighters entered the house with breathing apparatus to extinguish the blaze using the hose reel.

There were no injuries, but damage to cabinets and surfaces in the kitchen.

A Preston Circus spokesman said: “It’s another great advert for smoke alarms, if you haven’t got one fitted – get in touch with us.”

The crews were at the scene from 12.21pm until about 1pm.

Preston Circus’ fire crew were also called to a property off Dyke Road at 14.48pm to deal with another oven fire when a foreign student turned on an oven that had not been used for a while.

Again, two firefighters entered the building with breathing apparatus, this time putting out the blaze with a CO2 extinguisher.

The two engines were at the scene for about 30 minutes and there were no injuries.