TRAFFIC police closed off Burnley Road, Altham, for around eight hours after a headteacher was found dead in the back of her burned-out car last Thursday.
Nassim Akhtar, 39, was found in the back seat of her Toyota Previa at around 4pm on a lane off the road near the Walton Arms pub.
A fire crew from Accrington and an ambulance were called to the scene after a passing motorist saw smoke coming from one of the rear lights.
He called the emergency services before breaking a window in a bid to ventilate the vehicle.
Crew manager Phil Jones from Hyndburn Fire Station said: "There was so much smoke in the car that the passer-by couldn't see inside it.
"The interior of the vehicle was badly damaged by smoke but externally you wouldn't have been able to tell that there had been a fire.
"It was quite a shock for the firefighters because we didn't expect to find something of that nature there at 4pm. We always have to check if someone is inside the car but it does catch you unawares. Some of us were quite shaken up by it."
Mrs Akhtar lived in the Brierfield area of Nelson and had been headteacher at Cheetwood Primary School, near Manchester, since Sept-ember after moving from Bradley Primary School in Nelson where she was deputy head.
A post-mortem revealed she had died of smoke inhalation and an inquest was opened on Wednesday and adjourned until March.
