A QUICK-thinking neighbour sprang to the rescue of a teenage girl trying to escape a house fire.

The man, thought to be in his 30s, used an extension ladder to get the 17-year-old down from the first floor window of the house in Prince Avenue, Southend.

Firefighters were called at about 10.45am on Tuesday and spent an hour battling the blaze, which is believed to have started from a cooker fire in the kitchen.