TWO policemen are being hailed as heroes for bursting into a burning home to save a sleeping family of four.

Christchurch man Russell Diffey, his wife and her two sons were just minutes from choking in their beds when the officers spotted smoke as they drove past at around 1.25am on Thursday.

They leapt into action, hammering on the door, breaking it down and entering the smoke-filled house in Mill Lane, shouting for the family to get out.

Mr Diffey, a resident of three years, said: “The policeman didn’t give us a chance to do anything – he was insistent and wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“I couldn’t see anything, you had to fumble around. The fire service said that two minutes later we would have all been dead.”

One officer, from Ferndown’s traffic department, led the couple and Mrs Diffey’s boys Aaron, 18, and Nathan Medhurst, 15, to safety.

He even fetched jackets to keep them warm, and his colleague rang the fire brigade.

The fire, caused by an electrical fault in a dishwasher in a utility room, went undetected as the family’s two smoke alarms weren’t working.

The room’s roof melted and its windows later blew out.

Sara, 48, said: “The policemen were tremendous. They deserve a medal for what they did. They put their lives at risk to get us out.

“We’re all alive and that is all that matters. If it weren’t for them we wouldn’t be here. They saved our lives.”

Firefighters, on scene within four minutes, set about tackling the flames using two hose reel jets and breathing apparatus.

Mr Diffey, a painter and decorator, said he had been up until 12.45am.

Picking through the wreckage of the utility room, he told the Daily Echo: “This is all material. The damage doesn’t mean anything to me at the moment.

“How much would you pay to get somebody back?

“It’s unbelievable. I just well up at the moment thinking about it.”

Incident commander Neil Ricketts said: “I do not want to think about what would have happened if the police officers had not been passing.”

A Dorset Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “Without the quick thinking and bravery of the police officers concerned, this would have been a far more serious incident with fatal consequences.”

DFRS advise people to check smoke alarms are working and close internal doors at night. Outside the “exceptional circumstances” of this incident, members of the public should not enter a property on fire, the spokesman added.

The family would also like to thank their neighbours and the Red Cross for their support.