A dramatic rescue saw a woman and two young children saved from a blazing block of flats in Lockwood.
Emergency services were called at 8pm this evening after fire broke out in a communal stairwell at premises opposite the Texaco petrol station on Lockwood Road.
While the majority of residents managed to escape, a rescue was needed after the flames spread up the staircase, blocking the only way out.
Firefighters from Huddersfield used a ladder to reach the trio who were trapped in a room facing the main road.
The two children, thought to be aged two and four, were passed from the first floor window, about 15ft above the pavement, to a firefighter, who took them to safety.
All three victims were taken to Calderdale Royal Hospital.
They are not thought to be seriously injured.
Police and fire investigation specialists are probing the cause of the fire.
Police officers were at the scene to perform a full closure of the A616 Lockwood Road during the rescue.
Watch Commander Richard Carr from Blue Watch at the nearby Huddersfield station, led the operation.
He said: “We got the call that there were persons trapped.
“They were hanging out the window when we arrived.
“We put a ladder up and a firefighter went up.
“The mother passed each child out, one at a time, and then she came down.”
Two crews from Huddersfield along with Holmfirth and Rastrick were involved and WC Carr said they had been forced to smash their way into a number of flats to check no one else was trapped.
“We didn’t know how many flats there were or how many people were in the building,” he added.
“When we turned up there was people running out saying there’s two children in there.
“We opened the main door and fought the fire and then made our way in.
“We then used our positive pressure fans to clear the smoke and we had to break some of the windows to let it vent.
“A team also went in through a first floor window to check flats on the other side of the building.
“We sent four officers wearing breathing apparatus in, they’ve had to break in to each flat to check and see if there was anyone in.”
