A mum and child escaped from a house in Clayton-le-Moors this morning after faulty wiring caused a build-up of smoke inside.
The child woke up at around 12.30am in the house on Sparth Avenue which alerted the mum.
They both got out before firefighters arrived.
A Lancashire Fire and Rescue spokesman said a fault with the wiring underneath the floor boards in the hallway downstairs caused the smoke.
He said: "They didn't have a smoke detector. If the child hadn't have woken up there was a danger the fire could have escalated. It had started to char but hadn't turned to flame. The property was heavily smoke logged when we arrived."
No-one was injured.