QUICK-THINKING firefighters went to the rescue of an elderly man who fell in the street – creating a makeshift tent to keep him warm and dry.

The crew from green watch were returning to the fire station in Gloucester Street, Atherton, after an incident when they spotted a man on the floor outside a supermarket in Tyldesley Old Road.

The 90-year-old man had been out to post his Christmas cards when he fell, and it is thought he had been on the ground for some time when the firefighters pulled over to help him at about 12.30pm today.

Watch manager Ian Gardner said: “He was crossing the road and had tripped and fallen – he was conscious but was in a lot of pain.

“One of the trauma technicians on the watch gave first-aid and one of the firefighters had the idea to make a little shelter out of the salvage sheets on the fire engine to protect him.

“The man was concerned because nobody could contact his family so we found his keys and went to his house, which was only a few hundred yards away, and got a number for his daughter so we could phone her.

“It began to rain heavily but we were able to keep him dry with the shelter we’d made.”

The man was taken to hospital by ambulance with a suspected leg injury.