FIREFIGHTERS pleaded with a teenager to climb out of a third-floor window and down a ladder to safety when a blaze broke out at her home.

But 14-year-old Kayleigh Jarvis refused to abandon her beloved dog Taz.

Instead, fire crews led her to safety down the communal staircase which was thick with smoke.

Three women, one toddler, a baby and a man were also rescued by firefighters from the burning building in St Patrick’s Gardens, Gravesend, after a suspected arson attack late on Monday evening.

Kayleigh was having a bath when she noticed smoke pouring in. She opened the bathroom door and discovered her home completely filled with thick black smoke.

She said: “I was really scared. My dad was at my aunt’s house and I was here on my own. I called the fire brigade and they told me to stay in the flat and block the bottom of the door with a towel.”

It is believed the blaze started in an empty flat on the first floor of the council building.

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