A pensioner has told how she grabbed her beloved dog and ran as a terrifying blaze engulfed her kitchen.

Sharon Carr, 70, stood clutching Jack Russell-cross Sparky as she watched flames rip through her home in Priest Avenue, Canterbury.

She was asleep upstairs in the terraced council house when the fire broke out shortly after 11pm last night.

Speaking this morning, she told how her cousin had been staying with her and shouted up the stairs to warn her of the blaze.

“He had put some bread in the toaster and it caught fire,” she said. "He tried to put it out but it got worse.

"I ran downstairs and saw the flames and realised there was nothing we could do.

"I grabbed my dog as he was the first thing I thought to get and we quickly went outside and called the fire brigade.”

Two crews rushed to the scene and spent more than half-an-hour tackling the flames.

Ms Carr says she was left feeling numb as she watched the fire take hold of the house she has called home for 30 years.

"I just went blank when we were outside,” she said.

“I was in my pyjamas and my next-door neighbour was there and she gave me a dressing gown.

"I couldn’t think - I felt numb.”

Ms Carr stayed the night with her daughter before returning this morning.

“When I came back I couldn’t believe the damage,” she said.

"I have no electrics - they’ve all blown. The fire service told me not to turn anything on in the house.

"I don’t know what I’m going to do - I’m so shocked.

"The council said they will give me sheltered housing and I'm waiting for them to come round.”

A spokesman for the fire service said it believes the blaze was caused by discarded smoking materials.