A MOTHER has spoken about the moment her Breightmet council house went up in flames --- leaving her family homeless.

Mother-of-six Sharon Hewitt, aged 35, managed to get the three children at home at the time outside while the three-bedroom house in Greenroyd Avenue filled with smoke at 3pm on Friday.

Mrs Hewitt said: "I had just decorated throughout the house and was even painting up until until the time of the fire. I'm so upset about it all. It was terrible. I still feel really shaken and the children haven't slept.

"Everything went up in the fire, including my new bed, clothes and all my children's things. I'm so gutted."

Mrs Hewitt and her children, Tanya, aged 16, Nathan, aged 11, and Ellesse, aged 18 months, suffered from slight smoke inhalation but did not need hospital treatment.

Mrs Hewitt and the three children are now staying with neighbours because their home is so badly damaged. Her other children are staying with their father at his home, also in Breightmet.

The fire was contained within the house, but Mrs Hewitt said she feared at one point that it might spread next door.

A fire brigade spokesman said: "It was a very serious fire. They are very lucky not to have been hurt."

The cause of the fire is being investigated.