PARKED cars badly delayed a fire engine trying to get to a serious house blaze.

Firefighters struggled to get to the burning house on Olney Street in Slaithwaite at 4.45am yesterday.

Watch Manager Graham Holroyd, of Slaithwaite fire station, said: "Cars were parked on both sides of the road and we had a lot of problems getting through.

"Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus ran down the road to the house to make sure the people living there had got out OK.

"We eventually managed to squeeze the engine through, but it cost us about two minutes.

"That is a long time when every second counts."

Watch Manager Holroyd urged people throughout the area to think carefully about where they parked and ask themselves if a fire engine could get through.

Huddersfield firefighters had trouble getting to two car fires in Birkby last week because of cars parked on both sides of narrow roads.

The Slaithwaite fire wrecked the house, but the three people living there had managed to escape.

A couple in their 60s were treated at the scene for the effects of breathing in smoke.

The fire is thought to have been caused by a candle in the cellar.

The blaze spread up to the kitchen and then up again to the bathroom floor.

The house had no smoke detectors and the three people - including the couple's son in his 30s - were lucky to wake up.

They managed to escape down the stairs and get outside.

Neighbours then took them in.