FIVE people and a dog had a lucky escape today after a discarded cigarette end started a bedroom fire in Farnworth.

The fire started at about 4.20am after an ashtray was emptied into a bin at the house on Lavender Road. It smouldered for about two hours before catching fire. The flames spread up the curtains and set the mattress on fire where a man was sleeping.

The noise of the fire woke him and he alerted his parents and the other people in the house before escaping from the terraced property.

The man then went back to put out the flames with a bucket of water. He was treated at the scene by firefighters for smoke inhalation. Police and ambulance paramedics also attended.