A householder has spoken after residents were evacuated when a ruptured gas pipe sparked a fire.

A 30-metre exclusion zone was put in place in Poplar View shortly after 2pm as firefighters dealt with the blaze in Boughton-under-Blean, near Faversham.

Chris Ennis, 50, said he hit a gas pipe while replacing some fencing and a fire broke out.

He thought the blaze raged for nearly three hours while workers dug a hole to turn the gas supply off at the mains.

Around 15 to 16 people are thought to have been evacuated.

Mr Ennis said: “It’s not what I was expecting to do today, I was expecting to put a fence up.

“It wasn’t what I was planning, that’s for sure.”

National Grid engineers and firefighters have been at the scene, but from 4pm the incident was reduced to one fire engine.