A man has been left fighting for his life and another is in a serious condition after a flat fire which led to a huge emergency response.

On Tuesday night, residents in Glyn Court on Archers Road, Southampton were forced to leave their homes as smoke billowed from a ground floor flat.

The area was illuminated by flashing blue lights as paramedics, fire crews and police descended at around 7.20pm.

South Central Ambulance Service has confirmed two men were treated at the scene. One of them, a man in his 80s, is in a critical condition in hospital.

Firefighters descended on Archers Road on Tuesday evening Firefighters descended on Archers Road on Tuesday evening (Image: Submitted)

A spokesperson added: "One adult male was found in the ground floor flat by the fire and rescue service in a life-threatening condition.

"Following treatment at the scene, he was then taken to University Hospital Southampton in a critical condition.

"A second adult male patient in a first floor flat was treated at the scene for an existing condition before also being transported to UHS in a serious condition for further treatment and assessment."

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One resident who was evacuated from the building said: "A neighbour knocked on the door and said he thought there was a fire.

"That's when the firefighters told us to go inside.

"It did get quite scary as we could see the smoke coming from the bottom floor flat.

"I hope the men in hospital are okay."

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service sent crews from St Mary’s, Hightown and Redbridge to the fire, wearing breathing apparatus and using jets to put out the flames.

Police said they were 'currently carrying out enquiries in order to ascertain the circumstances of the fire'.

Another resident of Glyn Court, who called 999, said: "I was cooking and I realised there was some smoke - I thought it was coming from my cooker, so I turned it off - but the smoke was not going down.

"I quickly called 999 and knocked on the doors of my neighbours. I only saw it was the bottom flat [affected] as I was getting people out of the building.

"It was quite worrying because the fire was hard to notice from outside - the windows were black and it was dark out."