A DRAMATIC rescue unfolded at flats in Farnworth after wheelie bins caught fire, blocking escape routes.

Sleeping residents at Bentley Court were woken at 4.50am yesterday by crackling flames before the fire alarm sounded.

Terri Sotheron, aged 21, jumped out of her ground floor window when she realised there was a fire at the front door.

Her two-year-old daughter Tegan would normally have been asleep in her bedroom — which Miss Sotheron would not have been able to get to for the flames — but she was staying with her father’s family that night.

Former firefighter Stan Boseley was trapped upstairs and had to be rescued from his lounge window by crews with ladders.

He dialled 999 from his mobile phone and the operator talked him through what to do and helped keep him calm.

The 60-year-old said: “I have done 18 years as a firefighter but when it happens to you it is a different ball game.

“I just woke up after hearing a crackling and banging noise and I looked out the bathroom window and saw the flames.

“Smoke started pouring into the flat and the alarm went off and I realised I could not get out the front door. I rang 999 and went into the lounge and shut the door and put cushions down.

“I am devastated about the fire and now I am going to have to move out for a couple of weeks until the flat is sorted.”

Miss Sotheron said: “I heard a popping noise, like an aerosol. I saw the flames at the front door and I just jumped out my bedroom window.

“Fortunately my twoyear- old was not in, that was really lucky as I would not have been able to get to her. That was all that was going through my mind.“ The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is believed that the fire started in bins stored at the front of the property.

Crew Manager Andy Krinks said: “When we arrived there was something burning well at the front of the property and all the windows were full of smoke.

“The crews did a great job searching both flats because the smoke was really thick, you couldn't see anything in the flats at all.”

Watch Manager John McKay, from GMFRS control room, praised the work of control operator, Laura Martin, who took the initial call then stayed on the phone until crews arrived.

He said: “She did a really good job keeping Mr Boseley calm and giving him advice, and making sure he was in a room where it was safe.”