A five-year-old boy and his father fled a blaze at a house in Granville Road, Revidge last night.

The fire, which severely damaged the ground floor of the rented house, started in the kitchen around 8.30pm when an unattended hob caught fire.

Three fire engines attended the scene and four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus searched the house for anybody inside.

The boy and his 40-year-old father, who were believed to have suffered from smoke inhalation, were later taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital as a precautionary measure.

Watch manager Alex Wilson said: “It appears there was nothing in the pan and it has literally melted on to the hob.

“There were no smoke detectors so there was no early warning.

“The tenant was alerted to the fire by a resident banging on his back door.

“All the doors were left open within the property so the fire and smoke spread throughout the ground floor and smoke through the first floor as well.”

A family of six live at the house but the man's wife and their three other children were not at home.

Firefighters spent around two and a half hours tackling the incident.

Neighbour Abdul Mansoor, 53, said his family called the fire brigade.

He said: “Somebody knocked on our door and said your garage is on fire because that's where the smoke was coming from.

“When I got here flames were coming out of the back of their house."