A little boy has been hailed a hero after waking his family during a fire.

Dane Tolhurst-Young, seven, was woken by a fire alarm at his home in St Vincents Avenue, Dartford.

Looking out of the window, the Temple Hill Primary School pupil saw flames coming from an outbuilding attached to his home.

Quickly, smoke began coming through the back door.

Rushing to wake up his mum, Sally, he then alerted his 15-year-old brother, Robert, and 10-year-old sister Rebekah.

Dane said: "The fire alarm woke me up. I tried to wake Robert, my brother up, but he wouldn't wake up so I went to my mum and then she woke up.

"Robert ran down the stairs and tried to open the back door but it wouldn’t work.

"I wasn't scared, but I feel quite happy everyone was OK."

Sally, 48, said his actions gave them enough time to get out the building and dial 999.

She said: "I was asleep and nothing really registered."

She regularly hears alarms in the neighbourhood and had not realised it was actually coming from her own home.

"Dane came into the room and said 'mum, we've got a fire downstairs'. If he hadn't, we'd never have got out. He's my hero and all of our life saver."

She added: "The way the back door had melted because of the heat, it wouldn't have been long before it got in the house. There was already black smoke pouring in."

Dane Tolhurst-Young, mum Sally and brother Robert with the fire damage

Firefighters from Dartford attended and were able to quell the flames, just before 11pm last Wednesday.

They said about 70% of the outbuilding was destroyed and the house was badly smoke damaged.

Dartford watch manager Dave Read said: "The working smoke alarm gave the early warning needed for the family to escape from their smoke filled home.

"We want people to realise if a fire starts in their home they probably won't burn to death, but the smoke is more dangerous - just three breaths of fire smoke can be fatal."