A FAMILY rescued from a house fire in West Bowling have been praised for following safety advice which “saved their lives”.
Mum Rani Chaudhry, 44, and her daughters 12-year-old Usra and 19-year-old Anusha were trapped in the front bedroom of their home in Baxandall Street after fire broke out in the cellar.
But thanks to sticking to tips they knew on how to stay safe in case of a fire, the family made it a textbook rescue for firefighters from Odsal and Bradford stations who turned out to the scene just after 4am yesterday.
Smoke alarms woke Mrs Chaudhry who alerted her daughters and rang 999 for help.
Choking smoke was starting to creep up the stairs so they all went into the front bedroom, put a duvet against the bottom of the closed door to block it out, opened a window and sat on the floor waiting for help to come.
“It was all black as we looked down the stairs from the landing. We couldn’t see a thing. The smoke was making us cough and choke. We knew we couldn’t get out that way,” said Anusha, who always takes the door keys up to bed at night, and was able to throw them down to firefighters who then entered the property and tracked the source of the fire to the basement.
Another firefighter gave the women survival advice from outside through an open window.
A crew wearing breathing apparatus put out the flames which had taken hold of suitcases full of clothes and then cleared thick smoke which had clogged the downstairs while firefighters from Bradford were able to go up the stairs to lead the women to safety and a waiting ambulance.
All three were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for a precautionary check-up.
Crew commander Matthew Broadbent said it had been “a textbook rescue” because the family had done everything right.
“They probably saved their own lives. It was textbook. They did everything right. If they hadn’t done all of that it could have been the other side of the coin. We could’ve been pulling bodies out,” he said.
The cause of the fire is not believed to be suspicious but is under investigation. It could have been an electrical fault, said Crew Commander Broadbent.
He added: “Not only did following advice probably save their own lives, their story could now save other peoples’ lives if others can learn from this.”
Anusha said: “At the time we were worried what would happen to us. When we lived in London there was a fire in a house near us and the family had to jump out of the window. 
“We were lucky to be okay and we feel very proud that we might help save other peoples’ lives from our experience.”
Mrs Chaudhry said: “A big, big up in the sky thank you to the firecrews, the police and the ambulance who helped us.”