A MOTHER today told how she rescued her 22-month-old toddler from her burning bedroom after finding her cowering under her brother's cot.

Amanda Hawley, who is asthmatic, first heard a bang in baby daughter Carlie's bedroom followed by screams.

When she went to investigate, 18-year-old Amanda, of Parklands Way, Blackburn, saw smoke seeping through the bedroom door.

She said: "I went in and the room was full of smoke and I could see flames, but not Carlie.

"Because of my asthma and the smoke, I had to go out of the bedroom to get my breath back. I was panicking and shaking and was looking for Carlie.

"At one point I thought I wasn't going to find her and she wasn't going to make it."

The toddler's bed was engulfed in flames, but she had managed to scramble from the bed and was underneath the cot, which is where eight-month-old brother Declan sleeps. Luckily, he was downstairs at the time of the blaze.

"Crawling underneath the cot might have saved her life," said Amanda. "She would have been burned if she had stayed on the bed."

Carlie, who also suffers from asthma and bronchitis, was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary and later transferred to Queen's Park Hospital although she went home after check-ups.

Carlie and Declan were today staying with relatives in Infirmary Street, Blackburn.

Fire chiefs were today investigating.