Elderly man rescued from kitchen fire in Wigan

They were called to Victoria Street, in Platt Bridge, at 1.30am on Sunday after a neighbour heard a smoke alarm.

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Mike Wilding, watch manager at Hindley fire station, said: "There was an elderly man inside but we couldn't wake him up due to hearing difficulties. Thankfully he was okay.

"It was a pan of food he had been cooking and he had fallen asleep.

"The alarm did go off, but because he had difficulty hearing, it didn't wake him up. Thankfully the neighbour heard it and called us out or it could have been a different story."

The house was filled with smoke, but the fire did not spread from the pan of food.

Mr Wilding added: "The message is to have a working smoke alarm. If you do have problems hearing, we do supply a special alarm."

In a similar incident, a 93-year-old man was helped from his home in Ince by a neighbour when a fire broke out early on Saturday morning.