Fire chiefs have issued a stark warning to car owners who put lives at risk by parking recklessly after vehicles blocked a fire engine’s route to a major house blaze in Bradford.

The city’s fire chief said there had been an increase in delays in getting to fires across the district caused by double-parked cars hampering fire crews’ rescue attempts.

Geoff Crossley, district manager for Bradford, said: “Lives are being put at risk by the fact that we can’t get there quickly enough.”

The warning was issued today as Patsy Firth spoke of her horror when badly-parked cars in Bracken Edge on the Thorpe Edge estate cost fire crews vital minutes in their fight to save her home and precious belongings – including photographs of her dead son.

The 44-year-old and her two young daughters, one of whom is disabled, were left homeless by the blaze.

Miss Firth said: “I was standing there watching my house burn down and could see the engines coming but they just couldn’t get to us.

“People were having to manhandle some of the cars out of the way. One had to be rammed to shift it.

“If any of us had been trapped in that house, we would not be alive now, I just know it.”

Fire crews from Shipley and Rawdon battled the blaze for three hours but were unable to save the home.

Rawdon watch manager Phil Hails said: “If anybody had been stuck in there at the time, the consequences could have been a lot worse. Double-parking and access around the streets in general is becoming more and more of a problem.”

Mr Crossley said: “We need to make the public aware of the need to leave access for all emergency service vehicles.

“Our crews fight fires using a lot of equipment and get it as close as possible and anything which gets in the way can delay firefighting operations.

“It is not deliberate, it is just a lack of awareness from the public. It is probably the last thing on people’s minds that a fire engine may need to get down their street but in some cases it can cause a severe delay where lives are being put at risk by the fact that we can’t get there quickly enough.”

The Deputy Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Naveeda Ikram, a member of the West Yorkshire Fire Authority, said Council parking wardens had the power to make people move their cars if they were causing an obstruction.

In the worst cases, where motorists had been repeatedly warned, police could be called.

Coun Ikram said: “I think it is a responsibility that everybody needs to take and they need to understand the consequences that can come of inconsiderate parking.

“A fire can catch people out very quickly and people need to be co-operative with the emergency services and move their vehicles as quickly as possible.”