FIRE victim Sean Matthew Woodvine would have celebrated his 28th birthday the day after he died in a house fire in Hunslet Street, Burnley.

He was found dead in bed in an upstairs room at the house in Hunslet Street following the fire just before 5am last Thursday.

A long time friend and occupier of the house, Darren Barker, was rescued from downstairs. He suffered 25 per cent burns to the upper part of his body and remains in a critical condition in the intensive care unit at the Royal Preston Hospital.

At an inquest into Mr Woodvine's death, Mrs Elizabeth Hall of Morse Street, Burnley, said her son had worked in factories more or less all his life.

He had started a new job on the Monday before he died. She said he had not been married and had a son.

She thought he had lived in Hunslet Street for about three weeks. He had his own flat before he moved in with Darren, someone he had been friends with for years. His only problem as far as she knew was that he was a bit hard up.

Last Thursday someone phoned her to say two boys had been carried from the house. She contacted the police and was then asked to identify her son. East Lancashire Coroner David Smith adjourned the inquest until police and fire officers complete their investigations.