A 21-YEAR-OLD woman suffered burns on her hands after her curtains caught fire from a candle.

Firefighters were called to Nunnery Road, Deane, at 11am on Saturday, after receiving a call about the blaze, which was caused by a candle that had been left unattended on a window ledge.

The woman, who was home alone, had left the candle to go upstairs, before coming down to find the curtains on fire.

As she tried to dampen the flames, she burned herself as the blinds on the window melted.

Firefighters from Bolton Central and Bolton North extinguished the fire and treated the woman for smoke inhalation and burns, before paramedics from the North West Ambulance Service attended to look after her.

Ian Read, watch manager at Bolton Central fire station, said they found the property did not have a smoke alarm.

He said: "The woman had momentarily gone upstairs and when she came back into the front room it was full of smoke and the curtains were on fire.

"She dived over and ripped all the blinds down and in doing so burnt her hands. The blinds had melted and that dripped onto her."

Mr Read said the crew fitted alarms in her property before leafleting the street, encouraging other residents to take up the offer of a free home safety check to make sure alarms were working properly.