A man was treated in hospital for smoke inhalation after being rescued from a house fire in Bradford.

Firefighters say his life was only saved because a friend of his turned up, after a blaze broke out in the bathroom at the back-to-back terraced house in Ringfield Street, Barkerend, shortly before 2.30am yesterday. 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.

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.

“The bedroom was full of smoke, it was choking because 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.”

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