A MOTHER grabbed her toddler daughter and fled after a smoke alarm alerted her to a blaze in the front room of their Accrington home.

Children playing with matches may have started the fire at the terrace house in Gillies Street.

But the fire brigade have not ruled out the possibility that lighted material was pushed through a hole in the broken front room window.

The fire yesterday afternoon damaged toys, clothing and curtains around the window.

Mum Julie Thomson had dropped another child off at nursery and had been back home for about ten minutes when the smoke detector went off. Station Officer Les Shaw said: "She thought she could smell smoke when she came in but did not realise there was a fire until the alarm went off. The fire had been smouldering a while.

"We don't know whether children playing in there could have got hold of matches but the mother seems to think that is not the case.

"It is also possible that someone pushed something through the window."

Police attended and spoke to neighbours to see if they saw anything suspicious.

Station Officer Shaw said the incident showed the value of smoke detectors.

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