Flatmates claim they owe their lives to their dog after fire ripped through a neighbouring property as they slept.

An apartment above Pappadoms Indian takeaway in the town centre was completely gutted in the blaze, which left a mum and her two young children homeless.

Neighbours Alys Gaymer, 19, and Mary Manning, 21, were woken because springer spaniel Poppy raised the alarm as deadly smoke filled their flat.

They made their escape as windows on the neighbouring apartment began to explode due to the ferocious heat inside.

Ms Gaymer, an accounts administrator in Herne Bay, said: “We got outside as quickly as possible, but as you walked out the front door, you couldn’t see a thing.

“It was just thick black smoke. There was just flames and smoke everywhere. When we walked out, the windows of the flat on fire were still intact but they started to smash.

“We started ringing all the buzzers of the nearby flats to make sure everyone was out, but it looked as though we were the last ones left.”

Emergency crews were called in the early hours of Sunday morning to reports of a blaze in a property on the corner of High Street and Dolphin Street.

Firefighters raced to the burning building at about 4am as families were evacuated from their homes and others warned to keep their windows and doors closed.

Flames burst from the flat and the High Street was closed off between Station Road and Richmond Street.

Two specialist height vehicles were among the fire engines used to tackle the blaze.

Ms Gaymer is convinced she and her flatmate owe their lives to their pet.

“Poppy is never noisy but I woke up to her barking loudly and knocking her paws against the bedroom door,” she said.

“I soon realised that there was smoke filling the flat. I ran next door and got Mary up.

“If it hadn’t been for Poppy, we would have still been in there.”

The blaze is being treated as accidental and is believed to have been sparked by an electrical fault, with the family inside escaping before fire crews arrived.

The tenant, believed to be a woman with a daughter aged seven and two-year-old son,
was forced to find temporary accommodation. An appeal for donations of clothes and toys for the family was set up on social media.

Mary and Alys are now staying with Mary’s father, Rick, who was helping at the scene, handing out teas and coffees to the fire crews.

Mary, a sales assistant at Screwfix, added: “We are both OK but just really shaken up. It feels a bit unreal.

“We are allowed to go back into our flat soon but we will just have to clean everything from the smoke. We just feel lucky that Poppy was there.

“We would like to thank the fire brigade, police and Red Cross, who were all amazing.”

Kent Fire & Rescue Service spokesman Antony Masters said the property was not fitted with fire alarms.

He said: “There were no working smoke alarms – none at all.Not even without a battery – just no smoke alarms.

“We always advise to have a working smoke alarm or two, one on each floor.”