Blaze evacuation at restaurant as fire starts in flat

Fire crews rushed to tackle a blaze above the Paper Duck Chinese restaurant in Ashford town centre.

The fire is believed to have started in a flat above the restaurant just before 12.30pm last Wednesday. No one was injured.

Dianne Dixon was in the restaurant having a meal with her family when the fire alarms started.

She said: “We were all sitting down having a meal and we’d just finished our first course.

“All of a sudden all these alarms started going off and we weren’t really sure what was happening but then the staff told us to evacuate.

“We got outside and it just smelt of burning. We think it’s from one of the flats upstairs.

“The fire crews got here so quickly. Within a few minutes of us being outside they were here”

Ms Dixon and her family had gone to the venue to celebrate her birthday.

She added: “I come here quite often because I really like it, so I organised a dinner with all my family as it is my day off.

“We just managed to finish our first plate before we got evacuated, but I just hope everybody got out OK and they put the fire out quickly – that’s a lot more important than a plate of dinner.

“It’s definitely a birthday meal to remember though!”

A spokesman for the fire service said: “We dealt with a fire in a building of three floors in North Street, Ashford.

“The fire was in a third-floor flat above a restaurant.

“Crews wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel jet to put the fire out and everyone is accounted for.

“A ventilation fan has been used to clear smoke from the property.”

By the evening, the restaurant was back to normal and running smoothly in time for their 6pm opening.

Firefighters were called to tackle a blaze in a flat above the Paper Duck restaurant in Ashford