A COUPLE had a rude awakening early today when an electrical fault started a fire in their second-floor flat.

The pair was forced to flee from their home in Huxley Court, King Street, Strood, at about 4am.

The blaze is thought to have started after insulating surrounding electrical wire over heated.

A crew from Strood Fire Station isolated the electricity supply and made the property safe. The couple were alerted to the flames by a smoke alarm.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "If there had not been an alarm in place things could have ended very differently."