‘We saw a big ball of white lightning and then my neighbour's house went up in flames’

A man has described the moment he ran to save his neighbour after hearing a crash of thunder and watching his house go up in flames.

Reece Lambert, 33, was in his home on Lepp Crescent, Bury on Sunday evening (May 12) with his partner Amy Fox, 33, when they heard a ‘loud bang’.

Moments later they saw a ‘big ball of white lightning’ and watched in horror as the house at the end of their garden became engulfed in smoke.

READ MORE: "It sounded like a bomb going off": Moment huge bang is heard before fire breaks out in house amid heavy storm

Recalling what happened, Reece said: “We heard a loud bang and saw this big ball of white lightning and minutes later we were like ‘I’m sure his bedroom is on fire’.

“Then the curtains started going up. We saw him, our neighbour, downstairs and shouted ‘Your bedroom’s on fire’, the next thing he was running up the stairs and started throwing water over the fire and putting blankets over it. Within minutes it just set ablaze, black charcoal smoke everywhere,” he said.

Reece immediately ran to his neighbour's house in a bid to help him and his partner Amy called the fire service.

“I thought we have to go round there because he could have got trapped. I knew he was in his bedroom when everything went grey and black and smoke was everywhere anything could have happened. He could have passed out in there.”

The 33-year-old ran into the burning house to save his neighbour and his dog.

“We ran round and as I got to his house he was still trying to put the fire out with a bucket of water. I asked him if there was anyone else in the house and he said: ‘No just my dog, my dog, my dog’. He was shouting for his dog and his dog wouldn’t respond.

“It all happened so quick I didn’t know what to do.