A fireman's dad put on a wartime gas mask and used a garden hose to tackle a fire at his home early today.

One of his sons, Paul, 20, suffered burns to his feet when his bed caught alight.

Bob White, 62, said: "I found the mask in the loft when we moved in some years ago and it worked perfectly.

"Every home should have one."

Flames broke out on the first floor of their home in Mile Oak Road, Portslade, just after 4am.

Paul said: "I can't remember what woke me but the room was full of flames and smoke."

Paul, a cabinet maker, alerted his father and mother, Susan, and they rang the fire brigade.

Listening in to the emergency channel was their firefighter son Mark, 21, who was working at Preston Circus fire station in Brighton on the night shift.

Mark said: "I couldn't believe it when I learnt it was my house.

"The lads pulled my leg and handed me fire safety pamphlets."

Colleagues at Hove fire station answered the emergency call but Mr White, who is retired, had already doused the flames.

The blaze is thought to have started when a candle set fire to Paul's bedding.

Paul was seen by paramedics but his burns were superficial and he was soaking his feet in cold water today.

Mrs White said candles were now banned in the house and smoke alarms were on everyone's Christmas list.

She said: "We have one but it was at the bottom of the stairs and didn't go off.

"I'm getting one for every room now."

The fire damaged Paul's bedroom and the rest of the house was smoke-logged.