A mum and her four young children managed to escape a kitchen fire in their Accrington home yesterday.

Firefighters paid tribute to the woman, in her 30s, who acted swiftly and led her children to safety after thick black smoke had triggered the fire alarm.

Crew manager Rick Courtney, of Burnley Fire Station, said: "We were alerted of the incident at Willows Lane just before 5pm on Monday, March 28. The woman had got home from work and picking her children up and had put a quiche in the oven. Ten minutes later she discovered flames coming from the bottom of the oven and thick black smoke.

"When the fire alarm activated she got her four children, ranging from two to 12-years-old as well as the family's rabbits who were in cages in the front room, and got out of the property. She then called us, so she did everything right."

Firefighters from Hyndburn and Burnley fire stations soon attended the scene and were at the semi-detached house for around 30 minutes.

Crew manager Courtney added: "We got there very quickly. There was thick black smoke but because of our swiftness we were able to minimise the damage and put a fan out immediately. This highlights the importance of working fire alarms which we can fit for free. No one was injured or rescued but the children were upset as the fire alarms can be quite noisy and scary to them."