Firefighter is a red hot hit with youngsters and parents after storytime session goes live from Burnley Fire Station

Firefighter Lee Clough read the children's story No Dragons for Tea and he has already clocked over 400 views on YouTube.

Chiefs at Lancashire Fire and Rescue came up with the idea for the storytime session as it has been sharing a lot of fire safety messages on social media accounts and, as important as the serious messages are, they thought it would be nice to do something a bit more light-hearted.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue said: "We’re urging the public to stay home and haven’t taken into account how difficult that must be for children to understand, never mind the parents who are looking after them 24/7m so we came up with the idea of a bedtime story being read to children by one of our firefighters."

When it was discussed who they could ask to read the story only one name came to mind and that was Firefighter Clough or 'Cloughy' as he is known to family and friends.

A firefighter for 24 years Firefighter Clough, who is married to Michelle and two daughters, Zoe (18) and 15-year-old Amy, has worked at Burnley Fire Station for the past 22 years.

A natural performer who is a regular visitor to schools in Burnley where he makes learning about fire safety fun, he has built up a great rapport with students and staff .

Firefighter Cloughy's bedtime story saw him read ‘No Dragons for Tea’ by Jean E. Pendziwol and Martine Gourbault with some minor alterations to include a few Lancashireisms and English references.

At the end of the book he also read The Dragon’s Fire Safety Rhyme and encouraged parents to learn it with their children. He also passed on his top tips for children to keep safe including learning your full address by heart and never going back into a house for your toys or belongings if there is a fire.

The spokesman added: "We hope it was well received and brought some light relief during these times.

"And who knows if people like it we may have more fun with Cloughy for the people of Lancashire soon."