An 83-year-old man is in hospital after being badly burned in a blaze at his home.

Frank Marshall, of Hadleigh Road, Frinton, was rushed to hospital after being rescued by firefighters who found him unconscious in a back room.

Mr Marshall who is suffering from severe 40 per cent burns was today said to be "satisfactory" in Broomfield Hospital's specialist burns unit at Chelmsford.

Fire Station Officer Colin Batten described him as: "a bit of an eccentric. He would rip up floorboards to use to cook on."

A police guard was put on the boarded-up house after a quantity of money was found inside.

It was believed the pensioner had been cooking food or boiling water on a camping stove in the front room of the terraced house where he lives alone. Mr Batten said Mr Marshall appeared to have been trying to get away when he was found.

Mr Batten was also injured in the fire late yesterday afternoon which gutted the ground floor and left the rest of the house with smoke damage.

He burned his hand on a bike jammed in the door as he cleared the way for firemen wearing breathing apparatus.

"I stuck my hand on it and little did I know it was red-hot. It was very painful," he said.

Mr Batten refused hospital treatment and was attended by paramedics on the scene.

The fire, which is not being viewed as suspicious, started just before 4pm, and crews were on the scene for four hours.

Mr Batten revealed firemen had been called to the house on several occasions in the past mainly to chimney fires started by Mr Marshall cooking.

The old man's pet goat and pigeons were later taken into care by the RSPCA.

Next door neighbour Jennifer Endicott said she was at home with her daughter and a friend when the fire broke out.

She said: "Somebody went past and shouted the house was on fire."

Miss Endicott evacuated her home and when she got outside she saw flames coming out of the house.

Despite being part of a terraced block Miss Endicott's house was not damaged in the fire.

She said: "There wasn't a lot anybody could do until the fire brigade came. Being a terraced house they normally spread all the way along. I was very lucky."

She said her neighbour was quite quiet. Miss Endicott said: "He kept himself to himself. There were one or two people but no-one really visiting."

He praised his men: "It was an excellent job - a good team effort."

Witness: Neighbour Jennifer Endicott and her daughter Michelle at the scene of the fire

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