A FAMILY of seven were forced to flee from their Heaton house after a fire started in the kitchen.

Parents Yasmin and Mohammed Ashraf and their five children were asleep at their home in Queensgate, off Chorley New Road, when an electrical fault in a fridge-freezer started the blaze just before 1am.

Mr and Mrs Ashraf were woken by their smoke alarm going off and managed to escort their five children, who are aged between two and 14, out of the house to safety.

They called the Fire service and crews arrived within ten minutes and were able to contain the fire to the kitchen area of the house, which was destroyed.

Mrs Ashraf said: "We are all so lucky to be alive — if the smoke alarm had not gone off we wouldn't be here.

"The fire destroyed the kitchen ceiling and two of my boys were sleeping in the room above, a little while longer and they would have come crashing through into the kitchen.

"It was so scary because all the lights were off and the house was filled with smoke, we couldn't breathe — I was terrified.”

"We grabbed the kids but we didn't know what would be downstairs, we thought the fire might block our way and thought about going out of the window, but we went downstairs and were able to run out of the front door.

"You never expect a fire to start in your fridge-freezer, I check that my cooker is off every night but I never thought this would happen."

"I would say to everyone, make sure you have a working fire alarm in your house, it is worth it, it has saved all of our lives, another thirty minutes and we would all be gone."

Watch manager from Bolton Central Fire Station Pete Fletcher said: "This was a genuine accident, the family were asleep and without the smoke alarm, this incident would have been devastating and we would almost certainly have been looking at a loss of life.

"Anyone wanting us to come and fit a free smoke alarm please call 0800555815."