AN elderly resident was taken to hospital with burns after a chip pan fire at his home in Laindon.

Basildon firefighters were called to the house in Panfields at about 6.30pm today.

The man had left the chip pan unattended and suffered partial burns to his forearms and possible smoke inhalation.

Firefighters had extinguished the blaze by 8pm.

Station officer Andy Stammers said: “We’d try to encourage people to avoid cooking with chip pans, but this man was alerted by a working smoke alarm.”