A sleeping man was today rescued by firefighters from a house blaze in Bradford.

And they say it was only due to a friend of the man's turning up when he did that saved his life after a blaze broke out in the bathroom at the back-to-back terraced house in Ringfield Street, Barkerend, shortly before 2.30am.

The friend, who had finished his shift at work and was going to sleep at the house, arrived to find smoke filling the upstairs floor and raised the alarm.

Firefighters from Bradford went into the house wearing breathing apparatus to wake the man whose bedroom was full of toxic smoke.

Crew commander Chris Hargreaves said: "He managed to walk out with help from the firefighters but it was quite a shock for him waking up like that – he was a very fortunate man his friend arrived when he did because there were no smoke alarms in the house.

“He is lucky to be alive. It's a cautionary tale – a smoke alarm would have woken him earlier and he could have got himself out."

Mr Hargreaves added: "The bedroom was full of smoke, it was choking becaue of the toxic fumes coming off the burning plastic in the bathroom. It's difficult to say how much longer he would have survived but he has been incredibly lucky."

The rescued man was taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.

Fire investigators are examining the scene to establish the cause of the blaze.