A MAN is in hospital with serious injuries after a fire at a house in Bishopthorpe Road, York, in the early hours of today.

The emergency services were called to the scene at 4.59am. When the fire brigade arrived they rescued one man in his 30s from the house and he was taken to York Hospital.

The blaze is believed to have started after a chip pan caught fire.

Bishopthorpe Road residents Betty and Dennis Smith, live next door to the house where the fire started and phoned for the emergency services after smelling smoke.

Mr Smith said: "I was awake in bed and had just turned over to go back to sleep when I thought I could smell smoke.

"At first I thought it might be from one of our electrical appliances so went downstairs to check, but I soon realised it was next door."

"We went outside and could see smoke pouring out of the bathroom window, we called the fire brigade and knocked and knocked at the front door, but no one came.

"The house is let out as bed sits and the people in there now have only been in for a couple of weeks so we don't really know the young man who was hurt."

Police said they were not yet able to identify the victim, and that no one else was injured in the blaze.