A WOMAN has a lot to thank her neighbour for after she fell asleep cooking food.

The woman left a pan of food unattended on the cooker at her home in Bridgeman Street in Farnworth at about 11pm last night.

But luckily, a neighbour heard the alarm sounding and alerted her to it.

Firefighters arrived minutes later to find a smoke-filled kitchen, and managed to put out the fire.

Steve Coot, watch manager at Farnworth fire station, praised the neighbour's reactions.

He said: "Without the neighbour raising the alarm, the consequences would have been a lot worse.

"It proves that smoke alarms do the job.

"Sometimes people hear alarms, but do not react. In this instance, the neighbour was fantastic."