A "hero" has been praised for rushing in to help following reports of a burning building.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service rushed to King Street in Wallasey at around 3.30pm on March 17 following reports of a blaze at a home. Six fire engines arrived at the scene a short time later and found a three storey mid terraced building alight.
Staff at the Gerrard Interiors offices opposite say they heard someone screaming for help and trying to kick the door down. Amber Eastwood said she and her colleague Gordon Smith, an ex-firefighter, "impulsively ran out to help".
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She told the ECHO : "It's all a blur it happened so fast. Gordon managed to smash through the glass door, cutting all his arm and unlocked it from the other side because no-one could get the door open. He had to go to Arrowe Park Hospital for stitches.
"But as soon as he pushed the door open loads of thick, black smoke came billowing into us. Gordon just went into fireman mode, he ran in to see if he could get anyone out on the ground floor flat but it was that hot and thick in there he came back out after around 20 seconds.
"You could hear a parrot screaming, it was awful, so traumatic. We of course rang the fire brigade but it was spreading so fast. It all happened so quickly and then the emergency services came and you step back to let them take over."
Gordon, who had only been working at the offices for a week, is said to be recovering well. Amber added: "We are all so proud of him, he was a hero. We thought someone was inside and my basic instinct was to help that person, as was Gordon's. It was like being in a film, the smoke was that thick.
"I saw Gordon's hand had ripped and there was a lot of blood I was worried about him but he just ran in. We were trying to get the street clear, we felt really dramatic but it was a really bad fire. Gordon said it was so serious. We couldn't see from the front but the back was terrible apparently.
"It all feels a bit of a blur, I was in shock but Gordon was willing to put his life at risk and it's just nice that everyone pulled together as a team to help."
The fire was completely extinguished at around 5pm and a fire investigator arrived at the scene at around the same time. The investigator placed a smaller cordon outside of the building affected by the fire.
