A MAN and his dog were killed in a kitchen fire which burned through the night before neighbours were alerted.

Terry Ashton, aged 22, and his Staffordshire terrier dog were found dead at Deal Street, Great Lever, just before 10am yesterday.

Police said they were not treating the fire as suspicious and it was thought that something on the cooker started it the night before -- possibly a chip pan.

Next-door neighbour Jeanette Copeland, aged 29, who lives with husband Trevor and their two children, said she smelt smoke at 2am.

"I thought it was gas so I opened all my windows and it started to clear, so I went back to bed. By the morning there was a mist in our living room and the walls were hot. My neighbour came knocking because her house was the same.

"We went round to the back of his house and there was smoke pouring out of the kitchen window. I phoned an ambulance and the fire brigade."

Mrs Copeland said she had seen Mr Ashton walking his dog on Saturday.

"He kept himself to himself but he was very nice. It's terrible he died so young. We are lucky that it didn't spread to our houses on either side."

The neighbour on the other side of Mr Ashton's house is Marion Mayoh.

She said: "This has come as a big shock, I feel very upset. He was a nice lad."

Assistant divisional officer Graham Brennan, from Bolton Central fire station, said it was not known how long the fire had been burning.

"It looked as though the fire had been burning for some time and that it had been worse than when we found it -- which was smouldering.

"We think the cause was something on the stove which could have been a chip pan but it is too early to say."

There was severe damage to the kitchen and smoke damage to the rest of the house, where Mr Ashton lived alone. The cause of the fire is under investigation.