A MUM and toddler were lucky to be alive this week after Christmas decorations caught fire at their home.

The blaze, which began while the two-year-old tot played on the floor, spread to the decorations hanging around the fireplace and gutted the living room.

Christina McGrory, 21, was upstairs at her home in Elmfield Street, Church, on Wednesday morning when she heard her son Marcus screaming for help.

Only four days earlier, firefighters completed a free home fire safety check, installing a smoke alarm at the house, which Christina said saved their lives.

Christina, a support worker for the Autistic Society, told the Observer: "I usually tell Marcus to wait if I am busy but immediately after I heard him shout, the smoke alarm went off and I knew something was wrong.

"I ran downstairs and saw flames everywhere, all around the chimney breast. I grabbed Marcus, got my keys and the phone and we went outside in the street where I called for the fire brigade.

"The smoke alarm definitely saved our lives. If it hadn’t gone off I dread to think what could have happened."

Firefighters believe that silk cushions near to the fireplace had set alight and the flames had spread to the decorations.

Crew manager Liam Barker from Hyndburn Fire Station said that thick black smoke was billowing from the house when two crews arrived at 10.30am.

He said: "The fact a smoke alarm had been fitted saved their lives.

"The incident is being treated as an accident and the mother did exactly what she should have done, thanks to the home fire safety check."

Coincidentally, the home check was carried out by the same fire crew which attended the blaze.

Christina and partner Mark Thorpe, who is a supervisor for Stockley’s Sweets in Oswaldtwistle Mills, moved into the house in August.

She added: "I didn’t think about it at the time, I just did what I had to do. The lounge looks atrocious. I don’t know what we are going to do but in the mean-time we will have to stay with relatives."

Free fire home safety checks can be requested by contacting 0800 169 1125.