FIRE crews rushed to a house fire in Blackpool to find the distressed woman owner suffering from smoke inhalation.

Firefighters thought people were trapped when they arrived at the house in Colwyn Avenue after a 1.47am call on February 2.

But they discovered the mother, who was downstairs, had been alerted by a large bang from upstairs and then discovered the fire. She had wakened her two children and led them to safety. All three were taken to hospital for a check-up.

There was a severe fire in the back bedroom of the house and the rest of the first floor was heavily smoke logged. The bedroom was badly damaged by flames and the rest of the first floor severely damaged by smoke.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue said: "No smoke detectors were fitted and once again we cannot stress their importance. This time the occupiers were lucky to escape -- unfortunately statistics show that this is not always the case."