STARTLED residents were evacuated from their homes after fire gutted a town centre building, sending clouds of smoke and sparks across neighbouring buildings.

Eighty firefighters were draughted in from across the county to tackle the devastating blaze in a derelict, three-floor building on Rouge Lane, Gravesend.

Police cordoned off large swathes of Windmill Street and the surrounding Windmill Hill conservation area on Tuesday night as 12 fire crews worked through the night to contain the blaze.

At one point fire services were considering creating a fire break to prevent the blaze spreading.

A Kent Fire & Rescue spokesman said there were no reports of anybody trapped or any injuries, apart from some residents who were treated for shock.

He said fire crews from Thameside Fire Station were initially called out at 9.18pm, but back-up from a further 10 pumps and three specialist control units was called in.

"The main priority was to stop it spreading to the residential propert ies. The crews did excellent fire-fighting to stop the fire spreading."

A stunned onlooker said: "We could see the flames through the smoke. It was pretty huge. It was chaos, all I heard was sirens everywhere."

Housing officers from Gravesham Borough Council and KCC and the British Red Cross took care of the evacuees. Steve Scully, emergency planning officer for KCC said about 20 people were evacuated.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.