A mother and her son were trapped in a bedroom early today as deadly smoke and fumes inched towards them.

Firefighters arrived just in time, carrying the mother down a ladder from the first-floor window and leading her teenage son to safety.

Assistant Divisional Officer John Ticehurst said: "If it hadn't been for a lounge door stopping most of the fumes, then their lives may have been lost."

Fire crews also revived the family cat, giving it heart and lung massage.

The blaze broke out at the terraced house in New Road, Newhaven, just after midnight.

The son went downstairs and found a settee in a ball of flame.

The fire blocked an escape route to the front door so he went back upstairs and called the fire brigade.

An operator kept talking to him as fire crews arrived. They took the woman down a ladder to a waiting ambulance.

As they tackled the blaze they led the son out to the street.

He and his mother were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, suffering from the effects of smoke.