A mother this week told how her family escaped death after her four-year-old child played with matches.

Lorraine Hockey and her daughters Sophie and Sarah rushed out of their Braithwaite Avenue house, in Keighley, as it filled with smoke.

Sarah, 15, had woken just moments before to discover that her pyjama sleeve was on fire.

Firefighters who arrived soon afterwards had to rescue the family's kitten, Tigs, which had run upstairs despite the blaze.

Lorraine's two other children, Stuart and Samantha, had been spending the night with relatives.

The children's clothes and Christmas toys were destroyed in the fire, along with carpets and decorations.

The drama began on Saturday morning as Lorraine, 32, lay asleep on the sofa where she had been watching a film the previous night.

She believes Sophie lit a match in the upstairs bedroom where Sarah was sleeping, then ran downstairs when the match fell on the bed.

Sarah woke up when the fire spread along the bedclothes, burning her wrist, and the teenager ran downstairs too.

Lorraine said: "Sarah shouted that the house was on fire. I couldn't get upstairs because of the smoke.

"We were lucky to get out. Sophie was lucky, she had a nightie on that could have caught fire."

Lorraine said the upstairs rooms were gutted and the whole house was damaged by smoke. Carpets and clothes were ruined.

Lorraine's sister Shelley, who lives in nearby Whinfield Avenue, has lent clothes for the children.

The council's emergency housing team moved the family to a hotel in Bradford for the weekend.

Lorraine was this week moved into temporary housing back in Braithwaite -- next door to her own house.

A council spokesman yesterday confirmed that Lorraine would be able to return home as soon as repairs were finished.