Passer-by pulls baby and toddler from blazing flat

A passing worker rescued a newborn baby and a toddler from a burning building today as their parents screamed for help.

Stephen Blackman, 50, was pasting up a Tesco poster next to Edmonton Green railway station at 5am when he saw flames coming from an off-licence in Church Street and heard a man shouting.

Mr Blackman ran towards the blaze with his ladder. "Anyone would have done the same," he said. "I could see a woman at the window [of the flat] above the shop. She had a bundle in her arms — I didn't realise it was a baby until I climbed up. I tucked the baby under my arm and carried down her three-year-old. That little boy clung to me like his life depended on it. He was terrified."

The father-of-two, who lives in Waltham Abbey, Essex, said the children's parents climbed down the ladder after him seconds before fire engines arrived.

Fire crews rescued another six people trapped in a flat above The Candy Shop, next door to Booze and Co where the blaze broke out. But as soon as they arrived Mr Blackman disappeared.

Selvaraj Thandavel, who works in the sweet shop, said: "It was like a superhero. The family was trying to thank him but he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say no problem' and walked off."

Ten people were treated for smoke inhalation and it took 20 firemen two hours to tackle the blaze, whose cause is under investigation.

Mr Blackman said he was embarrassed to be called a hero. "Afterwards I was in shock which is why I disappeared. I didn't want a fuss."