A FATHER spoke today of his family's lucky escape from a chip pan fire which turned his kitchen into an inferno.

Michael Fisher, 29, of Taylor Close, Blackburn, and his two children, Liam Gray, eight, and Sam Fisher, three, escaped unharmed from the early hours blaze.

Michael spoke of his shock and terror as he watched the fire turn from one he thought he could extinguish himself, to one which engulfed the kitchen, with billowing, black clouds of smoke.

He said: "I was looking at the smoke and was just really shocked. It felt like time stood still for a minute.

"Once I'd got the children out, and rung the fire brigade, I went back and the flames were up the walls and up the cupboards.

"I realised there was no way I could deal with it myself and so I waited for the fire brigade.

"It was very upsetting seeing the house on fire."

The fire started after Michael had put on a chip pan to make his son Liam a late night snack, after he had trouble sleeping.

He said he had only left the pan unattended for a few minutes to heat up, when he saw the smoke coming from the kitchen.

His first thought was to take both children, one of whom was asleep, out into the front garden to safety.

As the fire brigade arrived, Michael then tried to rush back into the burning house when he realised his girlfriend, Linda Fisher, might still be inside. She arrived home from a friends' house soon after, at around 2am.

He and the two children were taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary suffering from the effects of smoke, but were released the same day.

The narrow escape comes just a week after Michael had a neck brace removed six months after fracturing a bone in his neck in a fall in the street.

And as a result of his narrow escape from the fire, he has pledged to always keep a working battery in a smoke alarm in future, after the one in the house had run out.

And he said: "The fire brigade were brilliant and very helpful. They did tell me I was silly for leaving the chip pan for a minute, but I am never going to use one again. I will buy a deep fat fryer and, although some people might not have the money to buy one, I would advise everyone to get one instead of using an open pan."

The kitchen was severely damaged by fire.

Nationally, chip pan fires account for 17 per cent of all fires in the home, causing 4,500 injuries each year and half of all accidental fires.