AN ELDERLY woman was taken to hospital after a fire started in her home.

Firefighters believe it was started by a candle and said the woman was alerted to it by a smoke alarm and had managed to get herself out of the property by the time they arrived.

Crews were called to St Catherine's Drive, Farnworth, at around 11pm on Sunday and quickly extinguished the fire.

A woman, believed to be aged around 75, was already outside and was suffering from smoke inhalation.

North West Ambulance Service took her to hospital for precautionary checks.

Paul Harrison, watch manager at Farnworth Fire Station, said it is believed the fire was started by a candle in the front room and there was only minor damage.

He said: "The fire wasn't too bad, she was woken by the smoke alarm quite promptly and she got out and managed to call us.

"We got there quite quickly and dealt with the fire and treated her for a bit of smoke inhalation and then NWAS took her to hospital.

"It could have been a lot worse."

Crews were on the scene for around an hour while they dealt with the fire.

Mr Harrison wanted to remind people about candle safety advice.

This includes never leaving a candle unattended and extinguish it before you go to sleep, making sure it is standing up straight and fixed so it can't fall over, always placing candles on a heat resistant surface and keeping them away from draughts.

The fire came less than 24 hours after a candle fire in Great Lever devastated a family's home.

The Gola family were forced to flee from the blaze on Saturday and will be unable to stay at the house for several weeks.

Mr Harrison urged people to make sure they had a working smoke alarms and if they didn't to contact GMFRS for a free Safe and Well visit on 0800 555 815.