A young woman had a lucky escape, after the ground floor of her house caught fire.

Firefighters were called to the scene in Repton Manor Road, Ashford, at around 8.25pm last night (Friday).

Two pumps - one from Ashford and another from Aldington - attended the location at a semi-detached house.

Around nine crew members using breathing apparatus and a positive pressure pump - a type of giant fan used to clear smoke - worked for around one and a half hours to bring the blaze under control.

Although no smoke alarms were fitted, fortunately the sole inhabitant of the house - a young woman - escaped unharmed.

The property itself is understood to have sustained significant damage.

Tim Hanley, crew manager of Ashford's Green Watch, is calling on people to have smoke alarms fitted.

He added: "Given the time of the incident, the young woman was awake and alert and smelled the smoke, but had it have happened later in the evening, she might not have been so fortunate.

"We would like to repeat our calls to people to have smoke alarms fitted, particularly in the run up to Christmas, and also to test them regularly."