A MOTHER has warned families to throw out their chip pans after a blaze nearly destroyed her kitchen.

Marie Alderson was sitting with her son in the living room of their home in Olive Road, Darwen, when the kitchen door blew open in an explosion of flames.

As smoke billowed out of the kitchen, the family rang the fire service, who helped them escape.

It turned out that a chip pan left on by Marie's 17-year-old son had caught fire at 11pm on New Year's Day.

Marie, 43, said: "Philip had decided to make himself some supper, and I asked if he had switched it off and the door just exploded open.

"You just don't expect something like this to happen. There is no way we could have put the fire out.

"The rest of the house would have been on fire too.

"We were lucky we were still up."

Eight year old son Ryan was asleep upstairs in the house, and the family rushed to get him out of bed and escape the smoke.

Marie and Ryan clambered through the window as the fire brigade smashed the door down for Philip to escape.

The fire left the kitchen blackened, and the flames were so intense the kitchen units had started to melt in the heat. The family were taken to Blackburn Infirmary and checked for smoke inhalation before being released. Marie believes they had a lucky escape.

She said: "It was very frightening.

"You cannot believe how quickly the smoke spreads through the house. I have always been really aware of fires and I knew to shut the door to block the fire out.

"The kitchen is so bad it is going to take four or five washes to clean it up, and it all happened in a couple of minutes. Another five minutes and I think the house would have burned down.

"I would say to everyone: 'Don't use a chip pan. It's not worth it.'"

Following the incident firefighters delivered information on smoke alarms to nearby properties.

East Lancashire is notorious for chip pan fires. In 1997 three people were killed and 222 injured in 435 of the blazes. In 1998 the numbers were reduced to three deaths and 113 injuries following a safety campaign.

Sub officer Alan Burgess of Darwen fire brigade said the family had done the right thing when they discovered the fire.

He said: "Chip pan fires are still one of the biggest causes of fires in the home.

"If you do discover a fire then shut the kitchen door and get out. We will take care of the fire."