FOUR-year-old Shola Healy jumped into her mum's bed and it probably saved their lives.

Had the youngster stayed in her own room, she could have died from toxic fumes pouring out of a smouldering electricity meter.

Firefighters are blaming badly-fitted wiring in the external meter of the first-floor flat in Horridge Street, Woolfield, for the blaze, a claim challenged by United Utilities. Toxic fumes travelled up a flue and into Shola's bedroom.

Her mum, Joanne, who is four-months pregnant with her second child, told the Bury Times: "Shola was sleeping with me in my bed for a change and, thanks to her stirring, I woke and smelled smoke.

"After checking other parts of the flat, I looked into her bedroom and it was full of smoke. If Shola hadn't woken me, or if she had stayed in her own room, it could have been a lot worse."

Firefighters from Bury were called to the flat shortly after 4am and used a powder extinguisher to put out the blaze.

Station officer Paul Myerscough said the wiring in the meter box caused a short-circuit. He added: "Miss Healey recently had storage heating fitted and the wiring was connected to the external meter unit. It was poorly fitted to say the least and this could have had tragic consequences."

But an engineer from United Utilities, who turned out to repair the meter on Saturday (Feb 1) morning, refuted the firefighter's claim. He said the fire was caused by a faulty timer, and not poor workmanship.