A FARNHAM man saved his home from being gutted by flames after a fire broke out in the front room late on Tuesday night. Percy Crouch had to run through the blaze to escape from the burning building, but ran back in twice with buckets of water to douse the flames before firefighters arrived. Surveying the scorched walls and ceiling on Wednesday, he praised Farnham's fire service for saving his home and the fire alarm in his lounge for saving his life. Mr Crouch, a self-employed tree surgeon, had been alone in an upstairs room when he heard the alarm go off about 11-30 pm The 50 year old had to run through a cloud of thick black smoke and a flaming doorway to escape through the front door of the tiny terraced property. While a passer-by called the fire station, Mr Crouch twice ran from his back garden into the house with buckets full of rainwater which he threw over a burning cupboard and timbers. A fire crew was on the scene within five minutes but only had to deal with a few remaining embers. Mr Crouch has been a tenant of the flat for the last six months. He said: "You just don't think it will happen to you, but when it does you don't think twice about what to do. The room was thick with smoke and the walls were on fire but I just had to get out, so I made a run for the door. "The response from the boys at the fire station was brilliant, they were here so quickly. But I couldn't just stand back and watch the place burn, so I went back in. "It was pure luck I heard the fire alarm when I did; another 10 minutes and the whole place might have gone up. That alarm saved my life. "I lost quite a bit of personal stuff but I'm alive and the house is in one piece and that's what really matters." The cause of the fire is still unknown but fire officers suspect a faulty plug socket.
