A daughter saved her father – and her homework – from a devastating house fire.

Mungo Amyatt-Leir has told how his quick thinking 17-year-old daughter alerted him to the raging loft blaze before helping him flee their home – but not before she grabbed her art coursework.

The 44-year-old, of Cumberland Road, Brighton, added that if she had come home from school just minutes later, he might not have made it.

He said: “I was on the bed because I’d just come back from hospital with a bad ankle. She came in and said she could smell smoke.

“I checked the door to the roof and it was like looking into the burning fires of hell.”

The pair dashed for the front door with burning wood falling around them.

Unable to walk with his bad ankle, Mr Amyatt-Leir threw himself over the banisters and down the stairs.

Meanwhile, A-level student Ishbel, grabbed her A level art coursework before heading for the exit.

Emergency services were on the scene in minutes on Tuesday evening and spent the next two hours trying to control the blaze.

Mr Amyatt-Leir added: “We were just seconds away from being trapped in there. I’ve got my daughter to thank.”

It is not yet known what started the blaze.