A 12-YEAR-OLD boy has been praised by firefighters after he managed to get his family away from a fire in their house.

The boy was woken at 12.30am today by the smoke alarm at his Car Bank Street home in Atherton. He found his mum had left the chip pan on and fallen asleep.

He woke her, and she went upstairs for his five-year-old sister. The three were outside when fire crews arrived.

A fire service spokesman said: "The young lad did very well, it was good thinking. It could have been a lot worse."

No one was injured but the house was left smoke-logged.