Dean Kerr shut the door of the room where the blaze started around breakfast time, phoned the fire brigade and then roused everyone else in the house to get them outside.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade said that if Dean had not been so quick there was no doubt someone could have been trapped or injured.

It is thought that the fire was started by a candle in the bedroom of his nine-year-old sister Leigh at the house on the city's Parkhead View.

Dean told BBC Radio's Newsdrive programme that his sister ran into his room to raise the alarm.

My little brother wouldn't get out of his bed so I picked him up and he was crying so I took him down the stairs and we all got out Dean Kerr

He said: "It was up in flames so I closed the door and phoned the fire brigade.

"The woman asked if I could get my family out of the house so I said I would try.

"My little brother wouldn't get out of his bed so I picked him up and he was crying so I took him down the stairs and we all got out."

His mother Linda said the first she knew something was wrong was when Dean came and told her there was a fire and that he had called 999.

"He's done really well, he's listened to what he was told at school," she said.

Jim Smith, the commander at the local Sighthill fire station, said the youngster kept a cool head.

Mr Smith said: "Had he not closed the bedroom door the fire may have developed, certainly the smoke would have spread through the rest of the house.