Firefighters are warning people to be careful when using electric heaters after one 'exploded' and started a fire at a home in Bradford.

Nizaret Mahmood, 21, said he was playing on the computer in his bedroom when his electric fan heater, which was behind him, suddenly caught fire.

Despite Mr Mahmood's attempts to fight the flames using buckets of water, the blaze soon spread to his linen basket, bed clothes and curtains.

His bedroom was badly damaged by the fire which destroyed his television, computer and video collection. Other rooms in the house, in Tern Lane, Little Horton, were badly smoke damaged during the fire, which happened at 10.30pm on Saturday.

Firefighters said the blaze appeared to have started because an electric heater had been placed too close to bed clothes. Mr Mahmood was using the electric heater because the central heating had failed. He said the heater must have been faulty.

Mr Mahmood, who suffered from smoke inhalation, said: "There was a massive explosion, I looked round and the fan had blown up and there were flames and everything.

"I came downstairs and started filling buckets with water, but it spread quickly to the basket, the mattress and then the curtains.

"These things happen so fast that you don't really know what you're doing. I wasn't panicking, but then it spread so quickly.

"It's done some very bad damage. My room is a real mess now. I normally put the fire where it was, so it was just bad luck."

Mr Mahmood's sister Sadiya Parveen arrived home to find a fire engine on the driveway.

She said: "I started panicking and ran upstairs asking where my brother was.

"We are glad nobody was seriously hurt. It's ruined everything he had - computer, television and games.

"All the rooms upstairs are full of smoke as well, so it's a real nightmare."

Mr Mahmood's parents were downstairs in the living room when the smoke alarm went off.

Simon Moore, crew manager at Odsal, said: "They were alerted by smoke alarms which were fitted in the house, so that saved time.

"It took us about five minutes to get there and when we arrived, it was quite a fierce fire.

"It looked like there was an electric heater too close to bed clothes and it had started a fire.

"We would advise people to take care of where they put heaters and to make sure there's lots of air around them. Make sure there's nothing nearby that could fall on it."