Huddersfield Town commercial director Sean Jarvis hailed his nine-year-old son a hero after a freak blaze at his farmhouse home.

Sean’s son Josh raised the alarm at teatime on Monday as he smelled smoke while watching TV.

Josh rushed to find his grandmother, who was looking after him, but by the time she came back with a bucket of water flames had taken hold in the hallway.

Gran Carol Oxley, 71, fled the 200-year-old farmhouse in Southowram with Josh and dialled 999.

By the time Sean, 48, and wife Sarah, 46, dashed home from work two fire engines, police and an ambulance were on the scene.

Sean said: “We have been incredibly lucky and it was a very scary experience.

“Josh was very upset by it but in my eyes he is a real hero. His quick thinking and the quick response from the fire service has saved the house.”

The blaze is believed to have started in the hallway when a piece of timber touching exposed heating pipe started smouldering and set fire to possessions stored nearby.

Various items, including books, toys, coats and ski wear, were destroyed. The hall was gutted and smoke damage was caused to the lounge next door.

The family, who have lived in the house almost 20 years, have smoke detectors fitted. They activated – but Josh smelled the smoke before they went off.

Sean urged people to make sure they had smoke alarms fitted and test them regularly and added: “We can count ourselves incredibly lucky.

“It was a freak fire which could have started while we were asleep or while we were out and the whole house could have been gone up.”

After the blaze, which started about 5.30pm, Sean took to Twitter to thank the emergency services. He wrote: “Thanks to @West_Yorks_FRS tonight – did a great job tonight – thanks to @WYP_RPU and ambulance service too – all brill and helped.”

Fire crews from Brighouse, Elland and Halifax attended.