Homeless men rescued by firefighters after derelict office block goes up in flames

A homeless man has told of the terrifying moment he realised the derelict office block he was living in had gone up in flames. Mark, who declined to give his last name, was one of two squatters rescued by firefighters after the blaze broke out in Old Trafford last night.

An investigation has been launched after Charlton House, on Warwick Road, caught fire at 11.20pm. Huge flames were seen coming from the vacant building, which is close to Chester Road and Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium.

Speaking on Friday morning, Mark said he had been living in a room on the fourth floor of the building with a friend for a number of months. He added: "We heard the sirens and I was joking saying 'I hope it's not our building that's on fire'.

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features

"Then we could see about four or five fire engines outside. I opened the door and couldn't see for smoke - couldn't see anything at all. We had a friend outside who told the fire brigade we were in there. He said 'look, there's two lads living in there'.

"He rang me up and said 'come to the window so the fire brigade can see you'. But because we were on the fourth floor it was too high for them to get to us.

"He put one of the firemen on the phone. He said 'Is it safe for you to get out?'.

"We started coming down. The firemen had the breathing apparatus on and they came up and managed to get us down the stairs. They ripped the chipboard off the door and we got out through there.

"I was panicking. It's the smoke that kills you. It was frightening."

Mark says his friend was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, but was discharged on Friday morning. They managed to grab their