A family was rescued from a house fire at the weekend.

Emergency services received a call from a mother of three saying she and her family were trapped in an upstairs bedroom.

The fire broke out in the kitchen of the two-storey terrace house in Cluny Way, Arlesey, at around 12.30am on Sunday morning.

The three children were lowered to safety from an upstairs window to a member of the public who came to the aid of the family, but the mother was still trapped when officers from Bedfordshire Police arrived.

The officers forced entry to the house before extinguishing the fire in the kitchen, enabling the woman to escape unharmed.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service arrived shortly after the rescue. Crews from Shefford, Baldock and Biggleswade were sent to the scene.

The woman and her family were unharmed by the fire, but were taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation for precautionary checks.

Both officers also suffered the effects of smoke inhalation, but did not require treatment.

The fire was caused by a chip pan catching fire and caused 30% damage to the kitchen and 30% smoke damage to the remainder of the house.

Inspector Jim Goldsmith, who deployed the officers to the fire last night, said: “This was a selfless act by the officers and the member of the public who also came to this family’s rescue. The fire service were just minutes away but the officers thought nothing of breaking in and putting out the blaze with no thought to their own safety. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened had they not acted so bravely.”