A man has been rescued from an attic bedroom at a Bradford house after being trapped by smoke from a fire caused by a discarded cigarette.

The family of nine were woken by smoke alarms at the three-storey terraced house in Athol Road, Manningham, at 5.30am today.

Crews from Fairweather Green, Idle and Shipley attended and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus led the man in his 30s to safety.

Steve Ockerby, watch commander at Fairweather Green station, said the man's brother, also in his 30s, had tried to reach him and had put out the fire with buckets of water but had been beaten back by the choking smoke.

Both men were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for treatment for smoke inhalation.

Mr Ockerby stresssed the importance of homes having working smoke alarms.

He said: “This family recently had the smoke detectors. No-one knows how this would have worked out if the detectors had not been in the house and had not been working but we do know that detectors save lives."