Woman rescued by neighbour from house fire

Fire crews received reports she was upstairs and could not get out of the property in Leigh but when they arrived someone living nearby had gone in and helped her to safety.

Other news: Dog brought back to life by borough firefightersThe emergency services tried to thank him but he had already left the scene.

The woman was suffering the effects of smoke inhalation and was taken to hospital, but was not believed to have suffered any serious injuries.

The blaze was caused by an overloaded extension socket at the Warrington Road address and caused considerable damage to the living room as well as leaving the entire property badly smoke-logged.

The extension was on the floor of the living room and the flames spread to the curtains running the full length of the wall.

The entire area around the window frame and some furnishings were burnt but the blaze, which happened at around 8.30pm on Friday, was confined to the living room.

Crews wearing breathing apparatus used hose reels to extinguish the flames.

The fire service has now issued a strong safety message to residents about the use of extension leads.

Watch manager Kevin Wright from Leigh fire station said: "People buy these extensions and think you can plug something into every socket, but you have to be very careful.

"Anything which heats up quickly, like an iron, kettle or hairdryer, should get its own socket going back to the wall.

"If you have five or six slots on an extension and five or six things plugged in then depending on what they are it could be overloaded, as has happened on this occasion.

"This wasn't a big fire but it caused quite a bit of damage around the window frame and sill and there was also smoke damage everywhere.

"It was fortunate the neighbour rescued the woman. We tried to get his details but he was there and then he wasn't."

Crews from Leigh and Atherton fire stations attended and were at the scene for around an hour.