Jake Wane, 10, had been in the car with his parents driving back from a friend's birthday party in nearby Grimsargh when he saw black smoke billowing from the roof of the building on the Red Scar Industrial Estate.

He yelled to his parents to stop the car at the entrance to the estate and they alerted a security guard to the blaze in the Bathroom Traders' washroom.

Today, the fire officer investigating the cause of the fire, which is believed to have been started accidentally, said the swift-thinking youngster's actions had halted the spread of the flames.

Jake, who lives at Grizedale Crescent in Ribbleton, Preston, said: "I was just looking out the window and I saw all this smoke coming out of roof, it was all black and everything.

"I said to my mum, 'What is that' and we stopped the car and told the security guard there what I had seen, then he ran off to call the fire brigade."

His father Robert said the guard had told them that just five minutes earlier he had walked past the building and not seen any fire.

The guard called the fire brigade and minutes later 10 crews were racing towards the blaze on Wednesday evening.

They spent the next four hours battling the flames as businesses on rest of the estate was evacuated and people living in nearby streets were told to stay indoors.

Jake's mother Sharon said: "I was so proud of him for spotting it, if he hadn't seen it then I guess it could have spread very quickly.

"He was absolutely chuffed to bits about it all and I think he is a real hero."

Fire station manager Steve Snape said nearly a third of a stock of shoes in the warehouse had been destroyed with the rest of the building left badly smoke-damaged.

He said: "The sooner we get called to any fire, the sooner we can limit the damage, so there is no doubt that Jake has done exactly the right thing."

The fire chief added that he was currently treating the fire as "not suspicious" and an investigation is expected to finish next week.

>> Firefighters tackle industrial estate blaze

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