Leap of faith as 'inferno' rages

With flames just inches away, the desperate man smashed an upstairs window, threw out a mattress and then jumped to avoid the blistering heat.

A woman and three children in the house had managed to escape moments before, but the man – who has not yet been named – was trapped upstairs.

Firefighters described the burning terraced property in the Pitsmoor area of the city as an "inferno" and said when they arrived they did not know if everyone in the property had managed to get out. Six firefighters braved the flames to search for casualties and discovered the home was empty.

An investigation into the cause of the blaze, which broke out on the morning of Tuesday, January 5, is under way, but early indications are children may have been playing with matches.

Neighbour Jo Goodison, 42, who captured the dramatic moment on her camera, said: "I went outside to take some pictures of the snow because it looked so beautiful and that's when I saw the smoke.

"I then heard the sound of smashing glass and lots of people outside shouting and screaming 'jump, jump'.

"It was obvious that someone must have been trapped in the house because I then heard the sound of glass smashing and saw a mattress being thrown out of one of the upstairs windows.

"People were shouting 'jump' and that's when I saw a man climbing through a window."

Fire investigator Dick Hutton said: "It appears the man did everything right – he shut the bedroom door behind him, used a drawer to smash the window and threw a mattress outside to break his fall.

"He climbed out on to a ledge, lowered himself down and dropped around 10ft but he landed on the steps leading up to the house, so it was never going to be an easy landing."