Police and fire crews were called to a fire behind houses in Greenhill Road in Herne Bay after residents reported seeing thick black smoke plumes rising into the sky.

Resident Vickie Hunt who lives in nearby Cornwall Road said a fire engine and two police cars arrived at 4.30pm yesterday (Friday) to battle the flames.

She said: “I was in my kitchen and this thick black smoke started covering the sky. So I went out to the front as my kids were playing there.

“Then I could feel couple bits of ash dropping, so I got my daughter in and 30 minutes later emergency services arrived.”

A fire engine parked in Blackburn Road and crews connected water hoses across the road to nearby water pumps next door to the shops in Greenhill Road.

Kent Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Sandra Michael said: "The incident happened at a detached wooden garage at the rear of the house.

"The owners were out of the house when we arrived. We sent one engine with crews to the incident. They used a hose reel jet to put out the fire and then remained to damp down the hotspots."

A spokesman for Kent Police said that they didn’t believe there were any suspicious circumstances connected to the fire.