A DISABLED woman and her teenage son had to escape from their house after a fire, thought to have been started deliberately, broke out.

Wheelchair-user Ena Jackson and 15-year-old Danny were alerted to the blaze by a neighbour banging on their front door.

Mrs Jackson was able to use the house’s lift to get downstairs and flee from the fire in Thompson Close, Rainham.

Mrs Jackson, 41, said: “Danny and I were going to have an early night and were upstairs when suddenly somebody started banging on our door and telling us our house was on fire.”

The fire, which was burning around the front door and hallway of the property, broke out at about 8pm on Friday.

Mrs Jackson called the Kent Fire and Rescue Service and asked the operator for advice.

There was a risk of the fire cutting off the power to the lift but she was able to use it and get out through the back door.

Both Mrs Jackson and Danny suffered from the effects of smoke inhalation and were given oxygen by fire and ambulance crews.

They were then taken to Medway Maritime Hospital, where they stayed for about three hours.

Mrs Jackson, who suffers from the spine condition scoliosis, said: “We are now unable to sleep upstairs because of the damage by smoke and soot."

The front door was badly scorched by the blaze and has had to be boarded up.

Police officers investigating the blaze and are treating it as suspicious.