A FAMILY is lucky to be alive after escaping from their home seconds before flames blew the windows out.

Dave Navsa and Mandy McCall managed to lead their four children to safety before the fire ripped through the upstairs of their home in Amherst Road, Rochester.

Six firefighting crews were needed to bring the blaze under control, just after 9pm on Tuesday evening, in a top floor bedroom.

Three boys, aged five, six and eight, were sleeping in another bedroom when the fire alarm went off. Their beds, toys and clothes have now been totally destroyed.

The couple was sitting in the living room with their 14-year-old daughter, unaware that moments later they would be fleeing their home.

They were alerted by the fire alarm. Mr Navsa, 55, said: "I was sitting watching TV and couldn’t even smell any smoke. The next think I knew the fire alarm was going off."

The couple raced upstairs to rescue their children from the terraced house, before six crews, from Sittingbourne, Headcorn, Maidstone and Tonbridge fire stations, arrived.

It took them four hours to bring the fire under control and they left at 1.30am.

The children also managed to grab their beloved family pets, Dexter the dog and Malcom the parrot, before escaping.

When Kent Fire and Rescue first arrived, they had thought the family was stuck inside.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, although a small candle was left burning in the front bedroom. Fire investigation teams are looking into the possibility of an electrical fault, too.

The family is now trying to come to terms with their ordeal and is staying with family and friends while they plan their future. Mandy had been planning to sell the home she had lived in for more than four years.

Dave added: "I cannot praise the fire service enough. They came from miles away to help us. The neighbours were brilliant, too.

"I hope our experience will help other families. I would recommend that everyone gets a fire alarm. They are life savers. Our fire alarm certainly saved my family’s life."