Firefighters warned of the dangers of leaving pans unattended after being called out to a house fire.

Two crews from Bradford fire station and one from Odsal were called to the blaze in Ascot Drive, Horton Bank Top, Bradford, at 10.45pm last night.

Neighbours had raised the alarm and didn’t know whether anyone was in the house.

Odsal Crew Commander Ian Turner said: “When we got there we could see there was a chip pan involved in the kitchen, which was all alight.”

One team of firefighters tackled the fire, while another team started searching for the occupier.

Mr Turner said: “As it turns out, the occupier had been called to work urgently and had forgotten to turn off the pan when he went out.”

He said the kitchen was left fire damage and there was smoke damage in the rest of the semi-detached house. Some smoke had got into the adjoining house.

“It could have been a lot worse,” he said.