25 years ago - A young married couple and their 13-month-old daughter were forced to flee their Fern Grove home in Bury after petrol spilled on to the living room carpet and burst into flames.

After visiting relatives Mr Gerard Hisscott returned home to light a fire before his wife, Tina, and baby daughter Kerry arrived. The fire would not start at first so he poured a drop of petrol on it. However, there must still have been a spark and it burst into flames, startling Mr Hisscott, who dropped the petrol can which spilled on the floor and ignited.

He rushed into the kitchen and found his wife had returned home and they quickly fled the burning house. It took firefighters two hours to put out the blaze which destroyed the living room.

FIRE EATERS: Mum Mary Spencer appealed to children on her estate to end an horrific "fire-eating" craze after her 14-year-old son, Pernell, had been badly burned.

The youngster was playing with friends outside his Spinney Drive home when their daredevil game misfired. Instead of blowing a mouthful of lighter fluid on to a lighted match, Pernell was thought to have dribbled it down his chest and the fuel ignited, badly burning his face, chest and arms. He was treated at the burns unit at Booth Hall Children's Hospital.