A WOMAN and two children were forced to escape from a raging house fire in Bury on Christmas Eve.

The blaze started when a candle set a curtain alight, with the blaze quickly spreading to a Christmas tree before engulfing the entire living room.

The fire started at about 5.30pm in Bullfinch Drive this evening and saw a 31-year-old woman and two children, aged 13 and 9 escape unhurt.

The family were able to grab a number of Christmas presents as well as a television on their way out of the burning house.

A number of doors in the property were open, which meant that smoke was able to spread around the house, causing extensive damage.

Fire crews from Bury and Whitefield donned breathing apparatus before entering the house and putting out the blaze.

Watch manager Steve Wilcock said: "Unfortunately the Christmas Tree caught fire which resulted in rapid growth of the fire and a number of doors were open which meant that the smoke damage upstairs was extensive.

"A closed door can make an enormous difference in how much damage is done, but you cannot blame the people in this case as they must have been in a real panic.

"There has been a spate of fires caused by candles in Greater Manchester recently and we are going to have a targeted campaign locally to warn people of the dangers of lighting candles in the home."

The blaze could be spotted from the nearby M66 motorway, witness Chris Farey said he could see smoke coming from the house.

He said: "It looked like quite a big deal, there were a number of fire crews there and it looked like the house was quite badly damaged."