A family were forced to leap out of bed in the middle of the night when their dishwasher caught on fire.

A mother-of-two was alerted to the fire in her kitchen by a heat alarm that went off around 12.35am today.

To escape smoke billowing from the kitchen she led her children out of the house and called 999.

Firefighters quickly arrived at the property and put the fire out, leaving the scene at 1.45am.

The dishwasher was completely destroyed with damage also done to the kitchen.

Dartford crew member Vince Lewis said: "Fortunately the working alarm did its job and provided this family with the vital warning and the precious minutes needed to get out of their home safely.

"The kitchen was full of smoke so we used a special fan to clear it."