A CANDLE left burning overnight in a Darwen home began a fire as the householder slept.

The blaze saw crews called out from Darwen Fire Station to the property in Argyle Street.

Firefighters said that as a powercut affected parts of Darwen, a man at the property had decided to leave a candle burning.

After the sleeping housholder was roused by his smoke alarm in the bathroom he evacuated himself and his dog just before 2am today.

The fire caused damage to the bath, heat damage to the room, and smoke damage to upstairs rooms.

Firefighter Peter Turner said: “The householder had suffered a power cut and decided to leave a candle burning in the bathroom in case he got up in the middle of the night.

“He had a working smoke alarm, which is fortunate. We would remind people never to leave a candle burning overnight. In the case of a powercut, use candles by all means but take care not to leave them uanttended.”