A two-week old kitten found in the aftermath of a fire which raged through a recycling centre has been adopted by the site’s manager.

In April a fire broke out in the household waste centre at Pepperhill, Northfleet.

Dozens of firefighters spent more than a day tackling the blaze and during the clean-up operation, Paul Fitzpatrick, the site’s contract and transport manager came across two kittens.

He said: “We found them when clearing an area and estimated the kittens to be about two weeks old.

“When we’d finished the work, we put the kittens close to where we found them and cordoned off the area so they wouldn’t be disturbed.

“The mother came back and took one of them away and we waited for her to come back for the other one but after five hours the other kitten was still there on her own.

“When the site was closing I did one last check and rather than leave her overnight exposed to the elements, I took her home.

“The following morning, I took her to the vets and they recommended a special diet and showed me how to feed her using a syringe.

“For the next two weeks I was feeding every four hours day and night.”

Given the name Smokey, she is now on regular food and doing well.

Mr Fitzpatrick added: “She’s a very happy kitten, causing mayhem around the house.”

It remains unknown what caused the fire because of the amount of waste taken in daily but Kent County Council has been forced to close the site until August.

Test results on the building have shown that due to chloride levels that were produced from the various waste types that burnt in the fire, a full decontamination process is necessary.

The opening hours at Swanley, Dartford and Tovil have been extended on Wednesday until 6.30pm and Thursday until 6pm.

For information on Kent’s HWRCs visit www.kent.gov.uk/waste