FIRE fighters in Atherton have stressed the importance of having a working smoke alarm after they were called to a chip pan fire earlier today. 

A woman who was cooking in her home accidentally left the pan unattended in her kitchen and it went up in smoke.

She was safely standing outside her home when crews arrived at the address in Elmfield Avenue at 6.35pm, thanks to her fully working alarm alerting her to the fire.

The kitchen suffered smoke damage and the woman was unharmed. 

Crew manager Paul Gibbons said: "It was not a major incident but had this lady not had a working smoke alarm it could have ended up being more serious - even fatal."