A smoke alarm costing £10 saved a man's life when a severe blaze broke out in a flat below him.

Firefighters were confronted with smoke pouring from the front door and windows of the ground floor flat.

A blaze had broken out at the rear of the property in Charrington Way, Broadbridge Heath, at about midnight on Saturday.

The fire spread from the ground floor flat to the first floor and the roof.

Fire officers say the man living in the first-floor flat was woken by his smoke alarm which they said undoubtedly saved his life.

Crews spent more than four hours at the scene and managed to prevent the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties.

They remained until 4am yesterday to prevent pockets of flame reigniting and said everybody in the flats was accounted for.

A brigade spokesman said: "This fire highlighted the importance of working smoke detectors which undoubtedly saved this man's life."

Elsewhere, emergency services freed a man whose car clipped a stationary vehicle and overturned on Kingsway in Hove on Saturday.

The incident happened at 3.15am and firefighters used specialist cutting equipment to take off the roof of the Ford Mondeo.

Sub Officer Stuart Black said there were fears the driver had injured his back and he was taken away by paramedics.

The road was shut for over an hour while police investigated.

In Arundel, firefighters rescued a steer from a 3ft wide tunnel under a road.

The animal became trapped at North Stoke on Friday night.

Officers from Arundel and Storrington used specialist lifting equipment to free it and then pull it clear of an 8ft deep ditch.

The steer was not badly hurt and the entire operation took an hour and a half.

And a malicious prankster has been blamed for setting off a fire alarm at Gatwick airport on Friday.

Part of the South Terminal was evacuated for about 15 minutes at 7.45pm causing disruption for passengers and staff.

A spokesman for the West Sussex Fire Brigade said it appeared someone smashed a glass alarm case on purpose.