A FAMILY fled a house fire in Bailiff Bridge today after being alerted to it by their dog.

The fire was discovered at about 12.15am after the dad heard the pet shuffling around downstairs and went to investigate.

A spokesman for Cleckheaton fire station said: "They had just gone to bed and the smoke alarms had not gone off because all the doors were shut.

"But the man heard the dog shuffling about and went downstairs to see what was up with it, and was hit by smoke when he opened the door."

The man got his wife and five-year-old daughter out of the house before calling the fire brigade.

The spokesman added that several rooms in the semi-detached property on Mayfield Avenue were smoke logged. The fire was sparked by an electrical fault in a fridge freezer.

The spokesman said: "It was the dog rooting about that made him go down to see what was up. It was a good job they had only just gone to bed - if he had been in bed any longer he might not have heard the dog."