A FIRE thought to have been started by a carelessly discarded cigarette has caused £5,000 worth of damage to a beauty salon.

Eighteen people at Broadway Beauty, in The Broadway, Leigh, and in the flats above had to be evacuated after the fire at about 11.50am on Saturday.

Three people have sadly been made homeless due to the damage.

Firefighters rushed to the alleyway behind the salon after two bags of rubbish, which were leaning against the fire exit of a shop, caught alight.

Hayley Lucas, who has owned Broadway Beauty for three years, said staff were first alerted to the fire after smelling smoke.

She added: “We opened the back door and the smoke just flooded in.

“We had to evacuate the salon.

“We had about 15 people in the salon at the time, but thankfully the evacuation went fine.”

She praised her boyfriend who immediately leapt into action to tackle the blaze.

Hayley, 31, added: “The fire was really big.

“The flames were about four feet tall and there was a lot of smoke.

“When we opened the door, it acted like a wind tunnel and all the smoke came flooding in.

“Luckily we had fire extinguishers in the salon.

“My boyfriend, Adam Seal, started to put it out.

“We were using water from the salon to put on it.

“We assume someone had thrown a cigarette into the rubbish.”

She estimates the smoke has done about £5,000 worth of damage to the salon, including to much of the equipment.

She believes the cost of repairs will be covered by the insurance.

Hayley added: “It is very annoying that a cigarette has caused all of this damage.”

Luckily no-one was injured during the incident from the salon of the upstairs flats.

A spokesman for the fire service said: “The fire had caused two shops and the flats above to become smoke logged.

“Firefighters worked to extinguish the fire and clear the smoke by 12.15pm.

“During the incident 18 people were evacuated from the shops and flats.

“Three people have now been made homeless due to smoke and plumbing damage.”