A FIREMAN is “lucky to be alive” after the wall of a derelict pub came crashing down on him while he fought a blaze.

Daniel Gilbert was one of 30 firefighters tackling a fire at the Baring Hall Hotel pub in Baring Road, Grove Park, in the early hours of October 13.

He had finished checking neighbouring flats before smashing the pub function room window so water could be sprayed inside.

His sister Carly McDermott, 32, said: “As he did that he turned around and the whole wall broke up and just collapsed on him.”

Mr Gilbert, who was initially knocked unconscious, is now at the Princess Royal Hospital with four fractures to his spine and ligament damage to his legs.

Ms McDermott said: “He‘s lucky to be alive and was told that it was only because of his size and fitness that it didn't kill him.

“He’s on morphine but he’s going to live, thank God.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation but, after a similar blaze at the same pub last year, Ms McDermott is concerned that it was started deliberately.

She said: “Arsonists need to think about the fact that firefighters are putting their lives on the line for something so mindless.

“This is a dangerous building which should have been pulled down already.”

Mr Gilbert, who normally works at Lee Green fire station and lives in St Mary Cray, was providing cover for Downham at the time.

The 30-year-old has a five-month-old daughter called Lilly and was in training for a marathon at the weekend.

A spokesman for the Greenwich branch of the Fire Brigades Union said: “We wish him a speedy recovery. Everyone accepts that this is part and parcel of what could happen when we go to work.

“This could have been a tragic incident but it’s still a serious one.”