AN alert neighbour raised the alarm after a cigarette sparked a fire at a Radcliffe home. The blaze ripped through the ground-floor lounge and destroyed an armchair in the School Street property.

The owner went out at 1pm on Saturday (March 1) and it is believed a cigarette had been left smouldering. A neighbour raised the alarm at 9pm. Whitefield and Bury fire crews wearing breathing apparatus forced their way into the property. Bury Station Officer Peter Fletcher said: "If the fire had started much later, possibly when the owner of the house had returned and gone to bed, we could have been dealing with an even bigger problem.