THREE people had to be dramatically rescued from a house blaze.

Two men and a woman were trapped in an upstairs bedroom of their terrace home in Great Lever as a fire raged through the property.

Firefighters were called to the house in Blackwood Street at 3.30am after a portable television in the living room short-circuited and caught fire.

There was a smoke alarm in the property but it was not working and the blaze had spread before the three people woke up.

They called the emergency services and the operator advised them to get into an upstairs room and ram duvets against the door to prevent smoke seeping in and for them to stay by the window until help arrived.

Four firefighters in breathing apparatus searched the house for more people while a fifth scaled the side of the home with a ladder and rescued the people trapped in a room.

The three people who were rescued were taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation but have since been released.