A MAN smashed a window of a burning house so that he and his mother could escape smoke and flames.

Ian Whitaker, 32, cut his hands and head as he broke the glass at his semi-detached home in Meadow Close, Reedley. He and his 62-year-old mother Freda Whitaker, who is asthmatic, suffered the effects of breathing in smoke.

They were allowed home from Burnley General Hospital after treatment.

The blaze broke out at 12.35pm yesterday. Leading firefighter Roy Waddington said: "The man was in the shower and his mother was downstairs.

"They had problems getting out of the door so he smashed a window."

The fire started in the dining room. An investigation is under way on what started the blaze but initial inquiries are concentrating on an electrical fault.