A MOTHER and daughter narrowly avoided disaster when their cooker caught fire in the early hours of today.

The pair fled their terraced home in Privett Road, Fareham, at 4.15am when the smoke alarms sounded.

A crew from Fareham fire station used hose reels to put out the blaze, caused by a school bag being placed on top of the appliance.

The flames were contained to the cooker and prevented from spreading to the rest of the kitchen.

Station watch manager Ian Cambridge said: “This goes to show the dangers of leaving things on top of cookers and the importance of working smoke alarms.”