Five members of a family, including three young children, fled a blazing house seconds before a fireball engulfed the building.

The youngsters - including a baby - and their mother escaped the burning property just as the first floor window blew out, showering glass on the ground and sending a ball of flame up the building.

A three-month-old baby girl and her 32-year-old mother were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary as a precaution after suffering shock and the effects of smoke in the fire yesterday afternoon, but nobody else was hurt.

Fire crews from Bradford and Fairweather Green were alerted at 3.30pm and arrived to find the first and second floors of the three-storey brick terraced house in Arnold Place, Manningham, well alight.

They found the two women huddled with the baby and two primary school age children, a boy and a girl, in the back dining room, too scared to move as the fire raged above them.

Station Officer Harvey Stewart, of Bradford fire station, said: "They were in a state of shock. We had to shout at them to encourage them to get out and then we managed to lead them out of the building.

"Just as we got them out of the front door and they started to scatter across the road, the first floor window blew out, showering glass below, and a large fireball leaped out of the window and up to the second floor."

Firefighters donned breathing apparatus to get inside to tackle the blaze and search the building to make sure no other members of the family were trapped.

The first floor bedroom was gutted and severe heat and smoke damage was caused to the second floor attic bedroom but crews managed to stop the blaze spreading to the two adjoining houses.

A fire investigation officer was called out to probe the cause of the blaze, which began near to a gas fire close to the first floor bedroom window, but Station Officer Stewart said there were no suspicious circumstances.