THREE people and a dog have escaped a late-night blaze in a flat in Windhill which happened during a firefighters' strike.

Commotion broke out in Rochester Street shortly before midnight on Saturday when flames filled a kitchen and passers-by raised the alarm.

Three stand-by fire crews had to give oxygen therapy to the flat occupants suffering from smoke inhalation.

A fire service spokesman said she believed everyone had got out when fire crews arrived but she could not confirm what distance the crews had come from because it had happened during industrial action - however, it is believed rescuers were not from the nearest station in Shipley.

Saturday was the first in an eight day series of short actions which will continue until August 16, with two strikes every day between noon and 2pm and 11pmand midnight - the Rochester Street fire had happened at 11.40pm.

During earlier strike action on Saturday, there was just one other incident in the Bradford area at 1.18pm and that was a fire alarm going off at a house in Baildon because of cooking fumes.

With more bad weather forecast this week, fire chiefs are also warning they will only respond to localised flooding that are genuine emergencies and are also urging drivers to take extra care on roads that could become hazardous.

The strike action is linked to an on-going trade dispute between the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) and the Government over its public sector pension reform programme - In particular current proposals to introduce a new Firefighters' Pension Scheme from April 2015 to replace the two current pension schemes that most operational personnel belong to.