A WINDOW frame was destroyed and a house was smoke-logged when flames spread from a rubbish fire.

A pile of rubbish which included a mattress, boxes and old newspapers, left outside an unoccupied semi-detached council house on Eldon Street, Leigh, caught fire. Flames spread to the window frame.

A Leigh fire service spokesman said: "If the house had been occupied it could have been a very different story. If there had been curtains and furniture in the room they would have gone up -- the whole room would have been gutted without a doubt."