FIREFIGHTERS were called to a blaze at a house in Frizinghall early today.

Crews from Bradford and Shipley received a report of a house fire on Highfield Road at around 4.15am, with people reported to be inside the property.

However, when they arrived, the family that lives in the terrace house had made it safely outside.

The fire was at the front of the property, and caused damage to the front door and porch area.

The cause of the fire is currently being investigated.

A large cordon remains in place this morning.

A police spokesman said: "Police were called at 4.14am today by the fire service who were attending a report of a house fire in Highfield Road, Frizinghall.

"Investigations are continuing with the fire service today, but this is currently being treated as arson."

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said he knew of the family that lives in the house.

He said: "A woman lives there with her children, she has two or three children.

"I didn't see or hear anything when it happened, I woke up to see the police here.

"It is very bad to have something like this happen so close to my home, I don't know why someone would do this."

The family were said to be staying with family elsewhere in Bradford.

Councillor Mohammad Shabbir (Labour, Heaton) said it was “not acceptable” for incidents like this to be taking place.
He said: “I do not know who would want to do something like this to a family.
“It is shocking, and I will be speaking with the police to find out more.
Arson has not been a problem in our ward at all, I have not heard about any cases.
“Once I have all the facts I will be speaking to the family to try and help them the best I can, and this case needs to be properly investigated.


“The people who are responsible for this, it is not acceptable in any circumstances. It is not right to try and burn someone’s house down, especially while there are children inside.”
Councillor Mohammed Amran (Labour, Heaton) echoed his colleague Cllr Shabbir’s thoughts.


He said: “I just hope everyone is safe and well, this kind of thing brings shock to the local community.


“People in Frizinghall need to be vigilant in terms of looking out for each other, because it is quite a small community in that area.
“There is a lot of terraced housing so it is lucky the fire was contained and did not spread.”


Cllr Amran said he was relieved the family managed to escape and no-one was injured or killed.
“As councillors, we will help the family with whatever they need, if they need rehousing we will speak with the Council or if they feel they need protection we will speak to the police on their behalf, and if there are any other issues we will try to help.
“These people need to realise this is unacceptable behaviour, you cannot have people going around burning houses down and endangering the lives of families.
“It is simply not acceptable, especially not in communities such as Frizinghall.”

Anyone with information should call Bradford District CID on 101, quoting crime reference 13170131724.

Information can also be given anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.