SYDNEY - An alert tabby cat saved an Australian family of four from a house fire by clawing at its owner's face, emergency officials said on Friday.

Timmy the tabby sprang into action by waking his unidentified owner when a mattress caught fire as the family slept early on Friday in Cairns in Australia's tropical north.

"The cat was probably the best smoke alarm system ... it was clawing at the occupant's face and got him up and out of bed," Cairns fire service spokesman Robert White-Macfarlane told reporters.

The man was then able to wake his family and call for help.

White-Macfarlane said the fire was probably started by a cigarette but added that the home had suffered only minor damage because of the cat's intervention.