A MAN who turned into a human fireball owes his life to neighbours who rushed to put out the flames.

Wayne Gage and Shawn Close scaled a five-foot fence to beat back the flames and hose down Dave Taylor as he yelled out in agony.

Plumber Wayne, 23, was working out in his family’s back garden when he heard “terrible screaming” from outside next door’s house and smelt smoke.

He said: “I could see a man running up and down the garden, his head in flames.

“I grabbed a towel, jumped over the fence and started hitting him with the towel before grabbing a hose, turning it on him and shouting at him to get on the ground.

“I had to push him down because he was frantic, saying he wanted to die.

“Dave’s brother came out of the house and I said, ‘Your brother’s on fire’.”

Wayne said several onlookers watched the drama unfolding in Lyngford Square, Taunton, shortly after 6pm on Monday.

“Shawn was a hero – he’s had first aid training and ran round, jumped the fence, soaked the towel and attended to Dave’s wounds,” added Wayne.

“The skin was coming away from Dave’s body and his clothes were all burned.

“It was horrific. I had to take Tuesday off work as I was in shock.”

Samuel Close said his brother Shawn, 21, saw smoke billowing over the houses on the other side of the street, ran over, jumped the fence, helped rugby tackle Dave to the floor and then treated him before the emergency services arrived.

Tony Williams, Mr Taylor’s other next door neighbour, said: “I saw some smoke and Dave started shouting, ‘Get it off me’ as he came out of his shed. He was a ball of fire.

“I couldn’t get over the fence, so told him to lie down on the grass. But he just stood there.

“My son, Michael, was so horrified he had a fit.”

Mr Taylor, 49, who lives with his brothers, Jason and Nick, was airlifted to the burns unit at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, suffering 70% burns, where he was later described as “stable”.

It appears he poured white spirit over himself and set himself alight.

Mr Williams said: “He was mugged when he was riding his bike a few years ago, which really knocked him back.”

In a bizarre twist, Nick Taylor was badly burned a number of years ago when he was engulfed in flames as he filled up a petrol mower in the same garden as the incident involving his brother.

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesman said Dave Taylor was still conscious and breathing when paramedics arrived, while he was conveyed to Swansea by the Dorset and Somerset air ambulance.

Police are not treating the incident as suspicious.