VIDEO: Incredible footage shows construction worker rescued from building inferno

Man saved by firefighters with just seconds to spare - this is like something out of a movie.

Incredible footage has emerged of the dramatic rescue of a construction worker from a burning apartment building in the US yesterday.

The blaze, which ripped through the uppermost floor of an under-construction apartment block in Houston, Texas, left the worker stranded on a ledge.

He was forced to dangle from the concrete balcony and drop to the ledge below as behind him, the raging inferno grew in intensity with shocking speed.

The footage was shot by shocked onlookers in a building across the street.

The Houston Fire Department said the blaze, to which more than 200 emergency personnel and 80 fire engines responded, took about two-and-a-half hours to bring under control.

Houston Fire Department Capt. Ruy Lozano said the construction worker in the clip was rescued "pretty much seconds before the fire would have overtaken him".

There were no injuries or fatalities.

Here's the fire from another angle:

Fire department officials said the blaze, which destroyed the $50m luxury apartment block, may have been started by a welder.

There was a report of a couple of guys working on the roof doing welding," HFD Deputy Chief Greg Lewis told the Houston Chronicle.

"When our units arrived, there was a small fire and construction workers were attempting to put it out. There was sustained wind of 15 to 20 miles an hour, and it was a wind-driven fire."