TRIBUTES have been paid to a pensioner who died after suffering burns to her head in a fire at her home.

Minnie Stevens was rescued from the house by neighbours after another resident heard the smoke alarm at her home in Birch Terrace, Accrington.

The 86-year- old, who suffered from arthritis, was thought to have fallen off her chair into the electric fire, setting a book alight. The flames then spread to her hair and head.

Station officer Andy Taylor of Accrington Fire Station said a panic alarm she normally wore around her neck was in another room.

She was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary after the fire, which happened at 8pm on July 11, but later transferred to Queen's Park Hospital where she died.

Mrs Stevens' daughter Ann Holt, of Hollins Lane, Accrington, said her mother had contracted pneumonia while in hospital, followed by other infections.

"Her death was accelerated by the accident. The burns in themselves weren't serious.

"I think it was the whole accident and the trauma involved with a lady of her age. She might have been OK if she hadn't picked up those infections," she said.

Next door neighbour Jean Wroe , 80, raised the alarm.

She said: "We have been neighbours for more than 40 years and we have always been nice and friendly. She was very nice, and I'm going to miss her quite a lot.

"I was only too glad to help her and I know she would have done the same for me."

A funeral service will he held at 11 am tomorrow at St John's Church, Baxenden, where Mrs Stevens was a member of the choir, before interment at in the churchyard.