by Lynn Cox

An elderly woman had to be given oxygen by firefighters after a blaze broke out in her home in Chatham.

The 76-year-old, who has not been named, suffered from the effects of smoke after initially trying to put out the fire herself.

It started in her bedroom, on the ground floor of her home in Boundary Road, at about 9.30pm last night.

A neighbour of the elderly woman noticed the fire and managed to get her out of the house and firefighters from Medway fire station were called out to deal with the blaze.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It’s not clear how the fire started, but there has been a substantial amount of fire damage caused to the room and the rest of the house suffered smoke damage.

“The crew used breathing apparatus to enter the building and we gave the woman oxygen, but she was OK, just a bit shocked. Her son came and picked her up after we put the fire out.

“We were on the scene for about two hours as we had to make sure there were no other pockets of fire in the house.

“Smoke had also seeped into a neighbour’s property, so we had to ventilate that property with our fans too.”