Firefighters have praised a father-of-three who led his family to safety early today.

The man had to get his wife and three children, the youngest only seven-months-old, down the stairs of their home in Crossley Street, Great Horton, and out past their burning kitchen.

Michael Smith, watch manager at Fairweather Green fire station, said: "It was their only way out. It must have been terrifying but he did a great job."

The family were woken by smoke alarms shortly before 4am, enabling them to make a "text-book" escape, said Mr Smith.

But he warned: "If it had not been for those alarms going off, then we would have had a completely different story. It would have been a front page tale of tragedy."

Once the family was safe the father went back in and used sand from the garden to put out the flames.

He was given oxygen by firefighters at the scene and the three youngsters, the oldest being ten, were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for precautionary check-ups.

The cause of the fire was later traced to a faulty electrical motor at the back of the fridge-freezer. The blaze had spread to kitchen units.