Heroic dad managed to stop a wall of flames reaching his house with a garden hose

A heroic dad managed to stop a wall of flames reaching his house - with a garden hose.

Lee Palmer, 50, spotted a worryingly big fire in his neighbour's garden, after flames quickly spread from a nearby alleyway, in the searing heat.

The fire service were on their way - but the flames were fast approaching, and had already taken out a garden fence.

So he grabbed all he had - a garden hose - and was able to hold back the blaze from his garden in Crayford, south east London, yesterday (19).

His daughter Ellison Palmer, 19, watched on as brave lift engineer Lee fought the fire for around 10 minutes, saving his garden and home from the blaze, before the local fire brigade turned up and took over.

Administrator Ellison, who lives with her parents, Lee and Clare, 47, said: "My window was open and my dad ran upstairs after seeing lots of smoke coming towards our garden.

"We both looked out of the bedroom window and saw a massive fire spreading towards our neighbours' garden.

"It was coming from the alley next to it and had burnt the whole fence down.

"My dad ran downstairs and used his initiative. I saw him run for the ladder and hose and position it on the fence and then begin to water it down.

"He was just using a garden hose - incredible, really, that it could defeat such a large fire. He was fighting the fire for around ten minutes, but it felt like forever, until the fire brigade was there.

"Even when the fire brigade was there, he somehow managed to attach the hose onto the fence so it was still watering the fire down without his assistance.

"I honestly think the house next door would have caught alight and our fence and garden would have also burnt down if he hadn't acted so quickly.

"I'm very proud of my dad. I was scared for him but he showed no fear at all - it was almost as though he was born to do it!"