THE next-door neighbour of a man who died in a Swanley housefire has spoken of the moments paramedics tried desperately to save him.

John Ellmore, aged 54, was caught up in a blaze at his home in Manse Way on March 7 and died the following day.

Fred Olayinka, 51, told News Shopper how paramedics spent 40 minutes trying to resuscitate the John Lewis driver. He said: “The fire crew brought him outside and put him down on the grass.

“They lay him on his back and tried to do CPR.

“You know it must be serious if they are doing CPR - it was very scary.

“They were doing it for a long time, for 30 or 40 minutes before putting him on a stretcher and carrying him to the ambulance.”

Two fire crews were called to the house after fire broke out at 7:25am on Wednesday (March 7).

Mr Olayinka said a neighbour spotted smoke coming out of the chimney of the house and raised the alarm.

He said: "The man opposite went closer to the house and realised the whole place was alight.

"He tried to force the door in but couldn’t."

Paramedics rushed Mr Ellmore to the burns unit at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, but he died the following day.

Neighbours said Mr Ellmore lived alone at the address and had been in the property for between four and five years.

He was described by Mr Olayinka as “a nice guy - quiet - who doesn’t make trouble with nobody.”

Mr Olayinka explained how the pair shared parking spaces and would always stop and talk when outside their homes.

Eye-witness Steven Jenkins, aged 37, of Manse Way said: “The emergency services were out there for quite a while, until about 4:30pm in the afternoon.

“There were lots of the neighbours out in the street in the morning too.

“I saw he had a blanket over him as he was carried to the ambulance.”

The windows to the house have since been boarded up and flowers laid in tribute outside the home.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service have said the fire is not currently being treated as suspicious.