FIREFIGHTERS rescued a family through a bedroom window as smoke engulfed their home.

Householder Matthew Thompson, 25, smashed the window and called neighbours for help when he, his partner Gillian Taylor and three-year-old daughter Isobella were trapped as fire raged in a downstairs room.

Fire crews raced to the end terrace house in West View, Bacup, and a firefighter carried the child down a ladder to safety.

The couple were also led safely down the ladder and all three were taken to Rochdale Infirmary for treatment for smoke inhalation.

Mr Thompson was also treated for cuts to his hand, sustained when he broke the window to raise the alarm.

They were later discharged.

Firefighters from Bacup and Rawtenstall quickly extinguished the blaze, which broke out in a waste paper bin and spread to floorboards in the lounge. The family were watching TV in the bedroom on Saturday evening when they smelled the fire but dense smoke in the stairway blocked their escape.

A fire brigade spokesman said: "They did all the right things in the circumstances - closing the bedroom door, breaking the window and making as much noise as possible to alert neighbours."

A bed and bedding were severely damaged in a blaze in Cambridge Drive, Padiham, on Saturday evening.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.