Sleepy chef's lucky escape from kitchen fire

Crews from Leyland and Bamber Bridge rushed to the Ryan Close upstairs flat in Leyland and arrived to the smell of burning and smoke billowing from a kitchen window.

Fire service members then forced their way into the building, awaking the owner from his slumber at around 11.40pm last night.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue said: “The occupier had left a pan of oil on the hob, leaving it unattended before falling asleep. This caused the pan to overheat causing the flat to fill with smoke. Luckily because he had a working smoke alarm this alerted neighbours into calling the fire service.

“Fire service Vented the flat to clear smoke the only damage was heat damage to the actually frying pan.”