Two people were helped to safety after a house fire in the early hours of Tuesday.

Two engines from Kent Fire and Rescue were called to Cedar Drive, Edenbridge, just before 2.45am after the blaze started in the kitchen of a mid-terraced home.

Kent Fire and Rescue control room operator Joanne Wheaton took the initial call.

She said: "Fortunately the lady had been woken by a smoke alarm which KFRS had fitted and she’d managed to escape - but we quickly established there were two people still upstairs."

Two pumps were sent from Westerham and Edenbridge and crews used ladders to rescue a man and a woman from the upstairs bedroom. They were treated for smoke inhalation.

It is believed the blaze was caused by a faulty fridge freezer.

Edenbridge watch manager Gary Milan said: "It was a slow burning fire but it was filling the house with hot gases and the couple said they could literally hear the air being sucked out of the room so this was potentially a very nasty job.

"We’d fitted the smoke alarm during a home safety visit and this undoubtedly saved their lives."

It is not known how much damage there was to the home.