A KITTEN was lucky to escape with its life after getting stuck behind a gas fire in Accrington.

Twelve-week-old Socks was sitting on Leanne Feeney’s lap when he jumped down, before squeezing himself through a small hole and sitting on the burners of the back boiler gas fire.

Leanne and boyfriend, Daniel Cleary had taken the cat in, after finding it in the street two weeks ago.

They tried to rescue the creature, but ended up turning to the emergency services.

Daniel, 18, said: “I think the kitten squeezed through because it was warm behind there. We rang the fire brigade because it was impossible to get to him.

“The kitten was very uncomfortable at the time. It took firefighters an hour and a half to get him out.”

A fire engine was called to the pair’s home, in Clarence Road, at just after 1pm on Saturday afternoon, crew manager at Hyndburn Fire Station, Rob Birtwistle, said.

He said: “The kitten had squeezed through a small hole and was sat on the burners on the back boiler.

“Crews isolated the fire taking the front cover off and used small tools to coax the kitten out of the fire.”

Daniel said the kitten may have used one of its nine lives already.

He said: “They said it was very lucky that Socks did not get burned to death because it’s an old fire.

“He’s fine now but he isn’t allowed in the living room until he’s bigger! We’ll probably get a fire guard now. This kitten will probably run us ragged.”

A gas engineer was called to make sure the fire was safe.