Five so lucky to get out alive

Firefighters said a sleeping woman had a narrow escape after a burning candle set fire to the duvet and couch she was sleeping on at her home in Hawksworth Road.

She and her partner, who was asleep upstairs, put the fire out - but only after a neighbour smelled smoke and woke them.

An hour later at 2.45am, a family of three battled through thick smoke to escape a blaze which destroyed the kitchen of their home in Downham Drive.

They were woken by a smoke alarm, but only after the fire had been burning for some time, because the alarm was on a work surface and not on the ceiling.

Station officer Jim Owen, from Accrington fire station, warned: "Fit smoke alarms and maintain them, or you may not be as lucky as the five people we encountered last night. In both cases the householders are extremely lucky to be alive." He said the couple in Hawksworth Road had a smoke alarm but its battery had been removed.

He added: "The couple were very shook up by their ordeal. Without question we could have been dealing with two deaths. Fortunately, the alertness and quick action of their neighbour made up for the failure to maintain the smoke alarm."

The fire in Downham Drive started after an electrical flex became trapped under the foot of a freezer and caught fire.

Three people were asleep in the house at the time and only just made it to safety. The smoke alarm had been taken down while the house was being decorated.

Station officer Owen said: "When we got there the family had just managed to get out through thick choking smoke. Because the smoke alarm was low down on a work surface instead of attached to the ceiling, the fire had the chance to develop which meant they had very little time to get out.

"The thick smoke almost prevented the family from escaping. But the smoke alarm did work and there are three people still alive today because of it."

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