Seven escape raging house fire

Seven students escaped a burning house after being woken by a young woman’s screams.

The flames, which took hold in the ground floor bedroom of a shared house in the early hours of Saturday, almost trapped some of the occupants as they slept upstairs.

But luckily, after one woke to the smell of smoke, her warning cries alerted her housemates to the emergency and they managed to escape the burning building in Montfort Close, Canterbury.

Danny Gifford, 34, who lives next door and also had to evacuate his semi-detached house with his mother, sister and three-yearold niece, described the scene he woke up to as “absolutely frightening”.

“I looked out my window and all I could see was flames and black billowing smoke,” he said.

“When I later looked into the house, it was bright red inside.”

The blaze, which destroyed the bedroom, is believed to have been caused by a towel which was left on a clothes airer near to a storage heater.

The rest of the house was badly blackened by heat and smoke when fire spread to the hallway through a door which was left open as the students fled.

Fire crews were alerted just before 5am and used breathing apparatus and a hose reel jet to bring the flames under control.

Mr Gifford says his sister woke him when she heard screaming and shouting outside.

“We were very lucky that the fire service got there when they did,” he said. “The heat was phenomenal. It was a really intense fire. The fire service were amazing, the way that they got up here so quickly to put that out.”

Fire crew manager Paul Moore said: “These young people were very fortunate. Had they not reacted so quickly some of them could have found themselves trapped upstairs with their exit route blocked.

“Please always switch portable heaters off before you go to bed and ensure they are positioned at least a metre away from any combustible materials such as paper, curtains, furniture or clothes, and well away from anything which could knock them over.”

Two volunteers from the British Red Cross also provided practical support to the students, including clothing and taking them to the University of Kent campus, where they were provided with temporary accommodation.