The 67-year-old man was asleep in his upstairs flat in Union Street, oblivious to the smoke that was filling his room from a fire in the flat below him.

The fire started shortly after 9.30pm on Wednesday night in the downstairs flat of 89 Union Street. It's understood the flat is owned by a private landlord who rents it our to the DHSSPS clients.

Three fire appliances were called from Lurgan and Portadown to tackle the fire which caused extensive smoke damage to both flats and also the business premises next door owned by Dermond Maxwell.

Dermond described the scene: "It was like the 70s. The whole street was out. There were about five fire engines, two ambulances and police cars. All the fire fighters had their breathing apparatus on.

"They asked me if there was anybody in the flat. I told them there was one fella upstairs and one downstairs. They rescued the man upstairs who had been sleeping. He was nearly dead. Five minutes more and he'd have been dead.

"They couldn't find the one in the downstairs flat where the fire started. It turns out he'd been in the Chinese."

The 67-year-old man rescued from the upstairs flat was taken to hospital though his injuries are not understood to be life threatening.

Dermond commended the Fire Service on their swift work to quell the flames.

Of his own predicament Dermond said: "The whole stock is smoke damaged. Stock in here is worth at least £300,000. Downstairs is all knitwear - it will hold the smoke.

"I'll be getting the assessors in to value it. It's going to have to be sold at cost price."

The Fire Service said the cause of the fire was yet to be determined.