THE FORMER partner of Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe has died after a fire at her home, despite being pulled from the flames by neighbours.

Gabrielle Kroger, 50, who was a wheelchair user, was rescued from the property in Lime Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, after a suspected chip pan fire at around 8.30pm yesterday.

A police and fire service investigation is now under way into the death, at a maisonette owned by Hyndburn Council. Fire crews said there was no smoke alarm in the property.

Neighbours raised the alarm after hearing the woman's dog barking and smelled smoke. A neighbour saw her sitting in her wheelchair in the kitchen and before breaking in with another neighbour and dragging her outside.

Firefighters and paramedics tried to revive her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Neighbour Joseph McCave, 47, said: "She will be missed. She was a nice lady. I have lived here about five years and she has been here three years. I believe she was German. She was a nice woman and it's a shame. The first I knew was when I heard all the sirens."

Inspector Bobby Holbrook, of Blackburn Police, said: "We can confirm that a 50-year-old wheelchair-using woman has died following a fire in Lime Avenue.

"There is a fire and police investigation underway and the cause of the fire will be up to that investigation to decide but it does look as though it was some food was cooking in a pan.

"Neighbours pulled the woman out of the house after noticing smoke coming from the rear.

"There were attempts to resuscitate the woman but they failed and she was dead at the scene."

Tony Hartley, station officer, at Accrington Fire Station, said: "We were called to Lime Avenue at 8.30pm after a person was reported to be in the property.

"It seems the chip pan had been left on.