AN ELDERLY man has been rescued from a house in Thirsk after a severe fire broke out.

Five fire engines and an aerial turntable ladder from Thirsk, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Northallerton and Huntington, York, were sent to the ground floor blaze at a property in Long Street earlier this afternoon.

Eyewitness Stephen Knowlson said he saw flames coming out of the ground floor window and smoke billowing out from a first floor window and the roof.

He then saw people from a car wash just across the road carrying an elderly man out of the house, just as the fire engines were arriving.

More to follow.