A SENIOR fire officer told how a family was lucky to be alive after a blaze started by children wrecked a bathroom and severely damaged bedrooms.

Six children and three adults who were staying in the terraced house on May Street, Leigh, on Saturday morning all escaped without serious injury.

They were all taken to Wigan Royal Infirmary suffering from shock and the effects of smoke inhalation.

But Station Officer John Hilton said it could have ben a tragedy. He said: "With so many people in the house we could easily have been dealing with a multiple death, but thankfully everyone escaped without any serious injuries."

Susan Lock, aged 41, and her partner Colin Reynolds, 33, led their children Jamie, Timmy, aged three, Kya, two, out of the house after 11 years-old next door neighbour Elizabeth Pilsbury woke up and raised the alarm.

Simon Lock, aged 18, and Nicky Faramond, 15, escaped through a rear window.

Mr Reynolds had got up with some of the children early in the morning and fell back asleep. It is believed one of the young children took Mr Reynolds' lighter and set fire to clothes in a wash basket in the bathroom.

The bathroom was wrecked and the plastic bath melted creating black smoke which filled the upstairs of the house.

Firefighters from Leigh and Hindley tackled the blaze using hose reel and breathing apparatus.

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