A MOTHER who was rescued from the bedroom of a burning house with two young boys today spoke of their escape after a chip pan fire threatened to engulf her home.

Yvonne Ryan, 47, her son Gary and his friend Ian McCloud, both 12, were stranded upstairs until firefighters arrived.

The blaze in Church Lane, Clayton-le-Moors, took hold shortly after 6.30am yesterday.

Mrs Ryan said: "I was watching television in bed and got up because I noticed a burning smell. When I opened the bedroom door the house was thick with smoke. The firefighters were brilliant and got all three of us down the ladder. We were only trapped for about 15 minutes but it seemed a lot longer because we were all panicking.

"We had no idea what had happened until we got out. We had a very lucky escape. I was expecting it to be worse downstairs but I'm still in a mess because I wasn't insured."

Two fire crews from Accrington were at the scene within minutes and used a ladder to reach the frightened trio.

They were all were taken to Blackburn Infirmary suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation and later released.

Mrs Ryan's 16-year-old son Michael is thought to have left a chip pan on the heat unattended. He escaped and raised the alarm. The kitchen and its contents were damaged by fire and the rest of the house was affected by smoke.

Station officer Trevor McCoy said: "We would like to remind people not to throw water on a burning chip pan under any circumstances."

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