THREE people fled their home after an early-hours chip pan fire raged as they slept.

The blaze caused widespread damage to the kitchen of the semi-detached property in Blackburn at 3am yesterday.

A man and two women were taken to hospital suffering from severe smoke inhalation.

Fire crews were called to the home in Manxman Road, Higher Croft, and watch manager Steve Harrison said that all three had been asleep after the chip pan was turned on.

Mr Harrison said the pan had been on for around 30 minutes unwatched while the three occupants fell asleep.

He said: “The kitchen fire had been burning for sometime when we arrived.

“They were very fortunate to get out alive because there was a very fierce fire and smoke alarms were not working.

“There were two smoke alarms but one was not working and one did not have a battery fitted.

“All three people were taken to hospital because of the affects of smoke.

“The cause of the fire is now under investigation but it looks like they had been cooking and then fell asleep after turning on the chip pan.

“The frustrating thing for us is that people do not need to have chip pans because they are so dangerous.

“People need to remember that they should not be cooking if they have been out or if they are tired. The dangers are more than obvious.”