A DAD said his family are lucky to be alive after fleeing a chip-pan fire at their home.

Darren Fenton, 41, his wife Nicola, 38, and their three children escaped a huge blaze that had started in the kitchen of their home in Montgomery Close, Baxenden, early yesterday.

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The couple managed to get Samuel, 11, Sophia, seven, and Olivia, three, out before Mr Fenton tried to tackle the blaze with a hose pipe.

Two crews from Hyndburn Fire Station and one from Haslingden attended the blaze, which cause severe damage to the kitchen.

Mr Fenton, an electrician, said he had put the chip pan on at around 12.30am and could not believe what happened.

He said: “Our first thoughts were to try to get the children out. They were upstairs and were our first priority.

“I then foolishly tried to tackle the fire myself.

“I managed to get a hosepipe into the kitchen to try to stop any further damage.

“But it was no use and the fire service came and saved the house from being burned down.

“I was scared at the time but it was such a blur it is difficult to describe the situation.

“The assessors are carrying out their work but we were told we cannot stay in the house.

“We do not know what to do. We will have to find somewhere to go until everything gets fixed.”

The fire service was alerted at around 12.50am to reports the semi-detached home was on fire.

The family were taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital in two ambulances after breathing in smoke but were later released.

A spokesman for the fire service said: “The initial reports were that a family may be inside but thankfully they had all got out.

“Our advice would be whenever cooking, whether with a chip pan, fryer, grill or other method, always stay with the cooking.

“It is so easy to get distracted and forget about what is on or in the stove, especially late at night or in the early morning when one can easily fall asleep.

“If you do get called away while cooking, turn everything off or down low.

“This case also demonstrates the importance of a working fire alarm.

“If the smoke alarm had not worked we could have been looking at a much, much more serious outcome.”