When they were at a safe distance, firefighters were able to put up a ladder to rescue the man, in his 40s, who was later treated for smoke inhalation. Fire crews took some eight hours to get the fire under control after being called at about 19:30 GMT. Assistant Divisional Officer Dave Barritt, incident commander, said: “The man was trapped on the third floor and there was no way he could get out. A quick-thinking bus driver has been praised after he manoeuvred his double-decker alongside a burning building to allow a man to escape a serious house fire. The fire service tweeted that Mr Waterman is to get the chief fire officer's commendation for his actions. Image caption Essex Fire and Rescue says bus driver Andy Waterman is to receive the chief fire officer's commendation 
 
 Bus company First Essex said Mr Waterman was driving the out-of-service double-decker back to the depot when a group of people stopped him to ask him to help. 'Ultimate last resort' 
 
 "We lined the bus up, close to the building to enable him to jump from the flat roof on to the top of the bus - he had no other exit," Mr Waterman said. Describing his role in the drama, he said: "A group of people started flagging me down and they were asking me to stop. Image caption The man was in a flat at the top of the building when he leapt to safety 
 
 Mr Waterman said he moved the bus, with the man still on top, away from the fire. "I drove nearer and all I could see was thick, black smoke.  Image caption Firefighters had to tackle the blaze in the roof of the three-storey building from an aerial ladder platform 
 
 A naked man jumped on to the roof of a double-decker bus from a top-floor flat which had caught fire. Mr Waterman, of West Mersea, Essex, said: "The police told me that I did a good job. It wasn’t until I got home that someone said that I had saved a life. “I have been driving buses for eight years and nothing like this has happened before. I am just pleased the man is alive.” 
 
 Adrian Jones, Managing Director for First Essex, praised Andy’s actions. Adrian Jones, a manager at First Essex bus company, said: "We are very proud of him - he was in the right place at the right time and knew what to do.” 
 
 Essex Police are treating the fire, above a café, as arson and have launched a criminal investigation.
– With fire racing through a third-story apartment in Braintree, England, and no firefighters in sight, death or serious injury appeared to be inevitable for a man trapped by the flames. Enter Andy Waterman, bus driver. Waterman was driving an out-of-service double-decker bus back to the depot when he was flagged down by a group of people seeking help, the BBC reports. Waterman drove up to the burning building to allow the man to jump onto the roof of his bus. "He had no other exit," Waterman tells the BBC. "The poor guy was in the shower—he was completely naked. It was freezing cold." Waterman slowly drove a short distance away with the man still on the roof of the bus. Firefighters arrived with a ladder—and clothes—a few minutes later. "If the bus hadn't been there, I don't know how he would have escaped, the fall could easily have killed him. The bus driver's actions saved this man's life," a fire department spokesman said in a statement. "It's an unusual rescue, but it was extremely effective." Waterman, who will receive a commendation for his actions, says that in his eight years of driving buses, "nothing like this has happened before. I am just pleased the man is alive." The rescued man was treated for smoke inhalation, and the fire is being investigated as arson, reports the Telegraph.