More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Five people including a baby were rescued by neighbours this morning after they were trapped in a blazing home in Gravesend.
Fire crews were called at just before 1am to a terraced house in Empress Road to find the ground floor well alight.
Minutes after their arrival, four adults and the baby were accounted for and no injuries were reported.
But neighbours told Kent Online they kicked down the door and dragged them to safety as the fire spread upstairs.
Neighbour Tijen Wareing, 27, was asleep with her partner Aaron Ludlow when the fire broke out.
She said: "There was thick black smoke and flames coming up out the windows.
Video: A window shatters as the flames take hold. Courtesy of @iceofficial
"There was a baby trapped inside. My partner knew that there was a baby so he went straight outside to help kick the door down.
"The little baby was covered in soot and he also helped drag another man to safety.
"The people were screaming for ways to open the house. They were screaming "get a hammer" and asking for chairs."
The fire spread to neighbouring homes leading them to be evacuated as emergency workers from the British Red Cross were drafted in to help.
The cause of the blaze is being investigated.
By around 1.25am four fire engines had been called out, as the blaze had spread to the roof space.
By just after 2.30am the fire that had spread to the other homes' roof spaces was under control.
Police, electrical and gas safety engineers, a British Red Cross support vehicle and the local authority housing and building inspectors were notified.
Firefighters have remained at the scene to monitor the situation and a road closure is in place.
The blaze came as the county's firefighters were out on a 24-hour strike but it didn't result in delays.
Ambulance spokesman Richard Airey said at least two patients were taken to Darent Valley Hospital as a precaution.
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