Three people's lives were saved after smoke from a fire poured into their Folkestone flat early today.

The two men and a woman, all in their 40s, were woken up by firefighters and fled the smoke-logged property.

John Howard, Folkestone fire station watch manager, said: "If they had not been reached in time they could have succumbed."

Firefighters were called to the property at 3am today at Cheriton High Street.

The fire had stemmed from a blazing food bin outside the doorway of the flat, between the Warren estate agents and a kebab shop.

The flames had spread to the door and its frame and seeped into the property. It had not yet reached the thickness to set off their smoke alarm.

Firefighters hammered at the front door until the occupants woke up and then fled the property.

None of them were harmed by their ordeal.

Two fire engines from the Folkestone station were called out, but eventually only one was needed and flames were put out with a hosereel jet.

The cause of the blaze has not yet been confirmed, but police are investigating.