A passer-by attempted to tackle a fire in a takeaway restaurant for around ten minutes before firefighters arrived.

Michael Osborne was passing Enzo’s Fish Bar in Olney and noticed a distressed man outside of the building.

The man, a friend of the restaurant’s owner, was partially sighted and unable to use the company’s fire extinguishers.

Mr Osborne entered the building twice and attempted to put out the fire using two fire extinguishers.

Fire crews from Newport Pagnell, Great Holm and Broughton attended the incident and used a hose reel, two sets of breathing apparatus, a thermal imaging camera and a PPV fan to extinguish the fire.

Mr Osborne was given oxygen and treated for smoke inhalation at the scene. An ambulance was in attendance but no one required hospital treatment.

A spokesman from Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue said: “We never encourage people who discover fires to put themselves into positions where they could risk being injured. However, this was a public-spirited act which clearly helped bring the fire under control.”

The fire was started by a tumble drier at the rear of the restaurant’s kitchen.

Commercial buildings, non-domestic and multi-occupancy premises in England and Wales are already forced to undertake a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment carried out under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

While the overwhelming majority of premises do this, if the assessment is thought to have been carried out to an insufficient extent, the Responsible Person can face an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.