A family had a lucky escape when a blaze tore through a fast food takeaway on Thursday night.

Father-of-three Gurmit Singh, 49, used a fire extinguisher to tackle the flames after a blaze broke out at The Kingfisher fish and chip shop in Crosland Moor.

Firefighters were there until the early hours putting out the blaze which caused extensive damage to the store in Blackmoorfoot Road.

Emergency crews were called at 10.30pm to reports that someone may be trapped. There are two flats above the takeaway and initial reports suggested someone could be trapped upstairs.

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Mr Singh, who has owned the shop for nearly 10 years and lives above with his wife and three children aged nine, 14 and 16, said: “It was a busy night and we were getting ready to close when I saw the flames and the fire broke out.

“It all happened very fast but I grabbed the extinguisher and tried to put the fire out before the fire service arrived.

“They arrived very quickly and left at 2am and did a very good job.

“The fire spread upstairs. While I was busy with the extinguisher my 14-year-old daughter phoned the fire service.

“All of my family were upstairs so it could have been a lot worse.”

Watch commander Andy Rose, of Huddersfield Fire Station, said the shop was well alight when firefighters arrived.

Two crews from Huddersfield and another one from Slaithwaite attended. Four firefighters in breathing apparatus tackled the fire.

Mr Rose said the fire had spread through ducting and flames ripped through the ceiling.

He added: “The shop was badly damaged and the fire spread through ducting and we had to cut away the floorboards upstairs.

“No one was hurt but the call came through that there may be someone trapped. However, the man in the flat upstairs had already got out.

“There were no smoke alarms in the flat so we’ve put some in. If there had been someone up there it could have been serious.”

Mr Rose said it was thought the fire was started by a faulty electrical appliance.