A RELIEVED mother-of-two today praised her next-door-neighbour for waking her family as fire took hold of their house.

Lorna Porter, of Emily Street, Burnley, was awoken when neighbour Nicola Burnley banged on her door at about 11.30 last night.

Nicola , 29, then helped carry her two children to safety after smelling smoke.

Lorna said: "She is a great neighbour to have. It doesn't bear thinking about what might have happened if she hadn't woken us up."

Burnley fire officer Paul Harvey also praised Nicola's bravery and alertness for waking up the young family and making sure they were able to get out of the house.

Nicola said: "I was putting my little boy's school uniform in his bedroom when I smelled smoke. I looked out of the window and saw smoke pouring out of her kitchen roof.

"I ran out and banged on her door, shouting that her kitchen was on fire."

Nicola and Lorna then carried Aiden, five, and Imogen, three, out of the house as the smoke spread.

"We got them out before the smoke alarms had gone off. It was just a matter of time," Nicola added.

Lorna said: "I was asleep but before I went to sleep I looked out of the bedroom window because the dog was barking but I could not see anything. Five minutes later Nicola was banging on my front door.

"It was really lucky that she looked out of the window. It doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened if she hadn't.

"She is a great neighbour to have and a friend."

Lorna's kitchen was destroyed by the fire, which has been blamed on an electrical appliance.

Another neighbour, Sean Stack, tried to tackle the fire before the firefighters arrived and was given oxygen treatment at the scene.

Station officer Harvey said: "Nicola did very well to raise the alarm and help the family out of the house.

"The house was fitted with smoke detectors but the fire started in the kitchen in either a kettle or toaster and the door from the kitchen was closed so the smoke had not got through to the detector."