THREE young children are lucky to be alive after jumping from a bedroom window as an inferno raged in their house.

The nine, ten and 14-year-olds leapt to safety as a blaze gutted their bedroom in Halifax Road, Brierfield, in the early hours of yesterday.

Neighbours were woken by the children's screams.

The two girls and a boy jumped onto the kitchen roof and neighbours with ladders then led them to safety before they were taken to hospital.

The blaze gutted the bedroom of the terraced house and caused severe smoke damage to the rest of the property.

Fire investigators said they do not know how the fire started and were still looking into the cause today.

Today the Kahlid family were staying with relatives in Burnley.

Neighbour Mohammed Amjad used a set of ladders to help get the youngsters to safety.

It is believed Mr and Mrs Kahlid were able to get out through the front door but were unable to reach their children because of the ferocity of the blaze upstairs.

The youngsters were taken to Mr Amjad's home to wait for an ambulance.

Father-of-three Mr Amjad said: "I heard shouting coming from next door which woke me up.

"I could then smell smoke so I rushed outside.

"It was very scary, the smoke was everywhere, it was so thick you couldn't see anything.

"I got a set of ladders to help the children down off the roof, it was very frightening for them.

"The children were very shaken and were taken to hospital to be checked over.

"They were very lucky to get out of the house alive. People say it's the smoke that kills and the smoke was particular bad."

Firefighters said the home was not fitted with a smoke alarm which could have alerted to them to the fire, which started at 1.30am.

Sub Officer Keith Dixon said: "Somebody could have been killed in the fire.

"Having a smoke detector in the home gives people more time to get out if there is an emergency.

"We have targeted this area in recent weeks by putting leaflets through the door letting people know that we can provide free home safety checks and smoke detectors but sadly the family didn't do.

"We have now provided them with some smoke detectors and would encourage anybody else living in the area who has not yet got one in their home to contact us because they really can be the difference between life and death."