CHILDREN had to jump to safety after their house caught fire.
Two adults and seven children were in their Hampshire home when the blaze broke out just after 5am today.
Eye witnesses described seeing some of the youngsters jumping from windows at the Bramber Road house.
Neighbours also helped rescued at least three of the children by passing them down from windows.
Rescuer Grant Stevens said: "The fire was at the back of the house. I climbed up onto the lean-to that was on top of the kitchen and passed three of the children down.
"I didn't really think about my own safety I just climbed up there."
One on-looker described his actions as 'heroic'.
He added that some of the children were sitting on top of the roof waiting to be rescued while one man jumped from the building.
The mother of the children was understood to have been rescued by firefighters.
The cause of the fire is not yet known but it is being treated as suspicious.
A spokesman for Hampshire fire and rescue service said the family were alerted by the smoke alarm.
He said: "If they had not had a smoke alarm I very much doubt we would have got all the people our alive."
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