A MOTHER and her two-year-old daughter escaped a house fire started by a discarded cigarette this morning.

The woman, in her 20s, tackled the small fire in the ground floor lounge with a pan of water.

Fire crews from Hyndburn were called to the mid-terraced house in West Crescent, Accrington, at 1.40am.

When they arrived, the mother and daughter were already outside.

They were both taken to hospital as a precaution for treatment for smoke inhalation.

Watch manager Gary Hargreaves warned people not to empty ashtrays into bins and said: “Fortunately the smoke alarm was working.

"It is likely that the fire was caused by discarded smoking materials which set fire to materials close to the settee.”

A section of the lounge carpet was wrecked and the house was smoke-logged.