MORE than 25 elderly residents had to be evacuated from an 11-storey tower block in the early hours of yesterday morning after fire broke out on a ground floor.

It started when a mains cable caught light in an electricity box at Windsor House in Belmont Road, Whitstable, shortly before 4am.

Four fire engines raced to the building when an alarm activated and found many residents already up and making their way out.

Smoke had started to drift up through the block but firefighters, who had the blaze under control, decided it was only necessary to evacuate the first three floors.

Firefighter Nick Salt, from Whitstable, said: "Clearly with so many elderly people in the building, we had to make a judgement and what was the best course of action. Because we were confident the fire was under control and contained, we decided it was not necessary to get everyone out, just the floors worse affected by smoke."