Firefighters are trying to trace two heroes who helped save a family from their blazing home.

Simon Smith and his wife Penny Davies-Smith were asleep in their three-storey home, when they were woken by smoke alarms going off early on Saturday.

Mr Smith, 40, ran down stairs through thick smoke to rescue their daughters Megan, 14, and Brittany, eight, who were sleeping on the second floor.

He took the girls down the final flight of stairs and out of the front door of their home in Crawley Road, Horsham.

Mr Smith asked a passer-by to dial 999 while he went back up to the top floor where his wife and their son Luke, aged two, were trapped.

The fire had started in the kitchen at the back of the house, at about 1.13am and the two lower floors were smoke-logged.

Mr Smith said: "I crawled on my hands and knees up the stairs because the smoke was so bad.

"I knew Penny and Luke were up there and I just had to go back in and get them."

Mr Smith, who works for a satellite company in Europe, managed to reach the top floor bedroom where his wife and son were.

With little chance of escape down the stairs, two passers-by intervened.

One of them stood on a moss-covered tiled roof that sloped away from the house above the burning kitchen while Mrs Davies-Smith handed Luke to him from the top floor.

She then climbed out of the top floor window, dropping on to a sloping ledge about 30ft above ground before lowering herself another 20ft into the arms of her rescuers.

Mr Smith followed seconds later.

Mr Smith said: "I can't remember a lot about it but we just did it. I knocked the poor guy over when I dropped down.

"I haven't a clue who they were but it would be nice to know so we could say thank you to them.

"Penny was cross with me for going back in as she said she would have been able to climb out, but you don't think of it at the time. I knew they were in there and I just had to get to them."

Mr Smith said the smoke detectors saved their lives, although the kitchen was destroyed by the fire.

The family was taken to Crawley Hospital in two ambulances where they were treated for smoke inhalation.

Mr Smith also received an ankle injury when he jumped from the window.

Two fire appliances from Horsham arrived at the scene within minutes of being called, but the family had already escaped the blaze, which is believed to have been started by an electrical fault.

The mystery heroes had disappeared from the scene.

The fire service would like to hear from the passers-by, who are asked to call 01243 786211.

Firefighters saved a man's life today when he was trapped in his bedroom by flames.

Neighbours raised the alarm at 5.20am when they saw Michael Newland, 56, at his bedroom window in Stane Street, Billingshurst, with flames coming from the ground floor.

Station Officer Mick Clack and his crew from Billingshurst fire brigade rescued Mr Newland by ladder. He was taken to Worthing Hospital suffering from the effects of smoke.

Horsham Sub Officer Keith Parvin said: "We arrived two minutes afterwards and saw the man was in a bad way.

"There was no smoke alarm in the house. If there had been it would have given him vital warning to leave the building."

The fire is believed to have been caused by smoking materials left in an armchair in the sitting room. Mr Newland works at an off-licence in Billingshurst.