A YOUNG Southend couple were lucky to escape with their lives when someone torched a pile of rubbish outside their front door.
The 21 year old man and 18 year old woman were in the only second floor flat of an end of terrace house in York Road, Southend.
Three crews of firefighters from Southend and one from Leigh were called to fire near the junction with Southchurch Avenue around 6.30pm.
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Station officer Mick Crisp, of Southend Fire Station said: "The fire was outside the door to this couple's flat on the first floor of the building, It appeared to be a pile of household rubbish which had been set on light.
"When the couple in the flat discovered the fire they closed the door and ran to the window which they smashed open and then waited for our crews to arrive."
He did admit the couple were panicking but he also praised their action which may have saved their lives.
He added: "We used a ladder to get the couple, an 18 year-old woman and 21 year-old man to safety and crews in breathing apparatus entered the building and quickly extinguished the fire.
"Then two more firefighters in breathing apparatus made a search of other flats to make sure no one else had been hurt."
The same firefighters also used a thermal imaging camera to search the building.
The fire was extinguished shortly after 7pm and Essex Fire & Rescue have confirmed the fire is being investigated as a suspicious fire.
Station officer Crisp said: ""This could have been a very nasty incident but for the quick thinking of the couple and the professionalism of our crews who rescued them.
"The crews also made extremely fast work of extinguishing the fire."
He confirmed the couple were treated by paramedics and Police Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO) were at the scene when fire crews left.
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