A ONE-year-old boy had a lucky escape after he was rescued from a blazing room by his hero dad.

Little Harley Carter-Coates was just metres away from a fire that broke out in his family home in Moat Way, Malvern, while he was sleeping on Thursday night.

Luckily for the youngster his dad David acted quickly after hearing the fire alarms around 9.30pm and snatched his son away from the growing inferno.

Mum Natasha, aged 25, said he was her hero. "He is definitely a hero. It was very scary."

The cause of the fire is thought to be a romantic night gone wrong.

Mr Carter-Coates said he had been trying to create a romantic atmosphere while his wife was in the bath by lighting candles.

But it was one of these candles stood on a computer table, which was knocked over by Harley, who has two older siblings, onto a chair setting it alight and spreading to the curtains and duvet cover.

Mrs Carter-Coates said: "I was in the bath just back from an exercise class. Our youngest son had knocked over a lit candle in our front bedroom. The fire alarms started going off.

"David ran in and he (Harley) was just stood there looking at it.

"The smoke alarms save lives, it doesn't bear thinking about if they hadn't gone off. Two minutes later, so lucky but that's down to David being a hero."

Mr Carter-Coates, a lead station assistant at Foregate Street Station in Worcester, added: "I got Harley out and lobbed the computer chair in the bath and ripped the curtains down and threw them out the window.

"You just go on automatic, you need to save everyone, your family and the house. I just kept thinking I need to get the kids out.

While the family were not seriously hurt Mr Carter-Coates suffered burns to his foot and all three needed treatment for smoke inhalation and were taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The damage to the house was also minimal.

"At least we can replace stuff," said Mr Carter-Coates. "You can't replace your family."

The couple also said they were grateful to their neighbours, who helped them during the emergency.

"We must thank Katrina Adams, Marc Grey and Becky Brown," they added.