Man suffers burns tackling blaze that destroyed his Wigan borough home

An unattended chip pan was blamed for the blaze which gutted the ground floor of the terraced house in Fairhurst Street, Leigh.

Fire crews from Hindley, Atherton and Farnworth descended on the terraced address at 10.25pm on Wednesday (December 5) to find flames had already taken hold.

Wearing breathing apparatus, they worked their way through the front of the house with a hose reel to find that one of the occupants - a man in his 40s - had been trying to put out the flames at the back and had now come round the front.

He had suffered burns to his arms, back and neck but declined medical treatment from either the firefighters or an ambulance which arrived, although he was given oxygen at the scene.

It was discovered that no-one had been in the home at the time the fire broke out and that the man had returned to find it well ablaze.

The kitchen and part of the lounge were destroyed by the flames which also badly damaged the staircase, making access to the upstairs - which was smoke-damaged - difficult.

Neighbours on either side had been evacuated but, after checks were run on their homes, they were eventually allowed to go back inside.

Hindley watch manager Luke McDiarmid said: “If there were any smoke alarms in the house, they had melted away by the time the fire was extinguished.

“The main advice here is not just to tell people not to leave heating chip pans unattended but not to use them at all because of the clear dangers.”

It is thought that the fire must have been burning for 20 to 30 minutes before it was discovered.

Mr McDiarmid praised probationary firefighter Naomi Collins who was facing her first incident as a team leader and took charge of putting out the blaze.

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