A man escaped with his life after he battled to put out a major fire in his lounge with buckets of water.

The householder faced thick smoke as blaze spread and he had no smoke alarm to warn him sooner.

Firefighters say they were amazed the man survived the fire in a sixth floor flat in Earls Avenue, Folkestone.

The spread from the sofa to the carpet and the rest of the room.

Folkestone Fire Station watch manager Vic Thorogood said: “We were faced with a substantial fire, which had spread and caused significant fire and a thick wall of smoke.

“The heat was so intense that the windows cracked."

Firefighters were called to the sixth floor flat at 3.38am on Monday .

Crews put out the flames and removed the burned sofa and carpet from the flat. They used thermal imaging camera to check the blaze was fully out.

It is believed that the fire may have been caused by by a cigarett that had accidentally fallen onto the sofa, which caused as slow, smouldering fire after the resident had gone to bed.

Despite no smoke alarms the man had woken up and battled the flames before eventually calling for help.

Mr Thorogood said: "I am amazed that the occupants actually survived this fire, given the huge amount of damage and the fact there were no smoke alarms in the property.

“The man was so lucky to escape uninjured as just three breaths of toxic smoke can render you unconscious and if your are asleep there is a strong risk that you will never wake up.”

The drama happeend just ahead of the launch of Kent Fire and Rescue Service’s latest fire safety campaign, Unsung Heroes, which encourages people to make a pledge to test theri smoke alarms weekly.

“I would recomment that smoke alarms are fitted on every floor of you home and you get into the habit of testing them weekly to ensure they work.

“I would also advise residents who smoke to take extra care to ensure all cigarettes are fully stubbed out after use and disposed of safely.”

Crews fitted alarms i nthe flat and gave the occupant safety advice. Firefighters also distributed fire safety leaflets to the rest of the flats, highlighting the importance of smoke alarms and the free home safety visit service that KFRS offers.

For further safety advice, and ti see if you quality for a free home safety visit, call KFRS on 0800 923 7000 or email home@kent.fire-uk.org.