A mother and her two children were rescued from a bedroom window early today after a fire attack on their home.

Lighted material was pushed through the letterbox of the house in Stonecrop Close, Broadfield, Crawley, just after 1am, setting fire to the hall and trapping the family upstairs. The blaze set off a smoke alarm which woke the mother.

She roused her 22-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son and they barricaded themselves in the front bedroom. Her husband was at work when the fire broke out. The family, who do not want to be identified because of fear of further attacks, were trapped for five minutes until Crawley firefighters arrived.

They were brought down on ladders from the bedroom window. The family dialled 999 from the bedroom on a mobile phone and stayed talking to the emergency services until they were rescued.

The three were checked by an ambulance crew but did not need medical treatment. The hallway was damaged in the fire and the house was smoke-logged.

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