House blaze escape

A MOTHER has spoken of her fear after she was woken in the middle of the night by a fire which raged next door.

Salem Begum quickly woke her two children, Aisha Latif (15) and Zenab Latif (12) and left her home in Barmouth Walk, Hollinwood, with her mother-in-law, Raj Bibi.

Emergency crews from Chadderton and Hollins arrived to find a man in a confused state on the ground floor of the house as the fire took hold upstairs.

They led him and two Yorkshire terriers from the burning building, then searched for a woman and her son who they thought may have still been inside. Watch officer Reg Haye, from Chadderton Fire Station, said crews faced a dangerous situation when they arrived to find smoke seeping out from under the eaves.

Firefighters outside the building smashed the window to allow gasses to escape before firefighters were able to get into the bedroom to douse the flames.

The fire started in a rear bedroom shortly after midnight yesterday morning. The rescued man, who was in his 20s, was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The cause of the blaze was believed to be cigarettes or matches.

Firefighters were at the scene for three hours before residents were allowed back