A 38-year-old man was put into an induced coma after being trapped in a flat fire.
Cleveland Police have confirmed that he is still seriously ill in hospital today, but doctors do not believe his condition to be life threatening at this time.
Firefighters rescued the man from the two-bedroom flat and he was taken to James Cook University Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and minor injuries.
At about 5.25pm on Saturday, police officers were called out to reports of a disturbance at a flat in Cornfields House, Barley Hill Close in Normanby.
When they arrived at the building, they noticed smoke coming from a third floor flat and called Cleveland Fire Brigade.
Residents from the flats were quickly evacuated while fire crews tackled the blaze.
One witness, who lives in the block, said: “I had just sat down to watch some TV before heading out when I heard a loud bang.
“I thought that it was the escape door because people often let that slam shut.
“Then about 10 minutes later the fire alarm started and then five minutes after that there was a hammering at my front door.
“It was the police saying that I had to get out of the building because it was on fire.
“There was three of us from the ground floor who were made to stand outside around the back of the building.
“There was lots of police around and I could hear the person in the top flat saying something.
“Then a fireman came round to where we were stood and told him to get down on the floor.
“He said that he couldn’t so the fireman told him to keep his head out of the window.
“We were outside for about an hour in total.
“It was all a bit of a shock.”
Four appliances attended the fire, which was under control within 15 minutes, though fire crews remained on the premises until 7.40pm.
Two fire engines from Grangetown, one from Marine and a hydraulic platform from Middlesbrough were used, as well as six breathing apparatus and two hose reels.
Police Scene of Crime officers were at the flat this morning as part of a joint investigation with the fire forensics team.
At this moment officers are unsure how the fire started.
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