Firefighters rescued two men from a house fire thought to have been sparked by a faulty washing machine.

A man in his sixties was unconscious when he was rescued by fire crews from the block of flats in Melfort Road, Thornton Heath.

A second man in his fifties was conscious but was suffering from a diabetic attack as fire crews brought him out of the house, a fire spokesperson said.

'A large volume of fire' was spotted coming from an upstairs window by crews from Norbury fire station, who arrived at 10.15pm on Friday, February 28.

There were four people in the property at the time -one of which was treated for smoke inhalation by the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

The patient, the man in his sixties, was taken to Croydon University Hospital.

The occupants of the building, a house converted into flats, had been asleep at the time, but were awoken by the smoke alarm.

It took firefighters an hour to bring the blaze under control and they remained on the scene until 1.30am.

Shawn Howlett, watch manager at Norbury station, said: "I was very pleased with the outcome and the work of the chaps.

"They worked very hard in difficult conditions, especially with an unconscious casualty and two others with smoke inhalation."

Firefighters used a jet, two hose reels and breathing apparatus to bring the fire under control.

Mr Howlett said it began to spread from the upstairs room into the loft but it was prevented from spreading further by the quick actions of firefighters.

Mr Howlett added: "It destroyed the room of origin and one next door to it.

"It was a fault in the washing machine.

"Luckily the smoke alarm went off. "It could have been a lot more serious for them."

The man in his sixties was rescued from the upstairs landing, and the man in his fifties was brought out of the upstairs back bedroom.

A total of 20 firefighters from Norbury, Croydon and Woodside stations attended the scene as well as paramedics and a doctor from LAS.

Metropolitan Police officers attended the scene at 10.26pm to deal with traffic management on the road.

A police spokesperson said the fire is not thought to be suspicious at this stage.