A car repair shop was destroyed and two dogs died after a fire broke out on Medway City Estate last night.

Around 30 firefighters from Medway, Strood and Rochester stations were called to the industrial unit in Maritime Close in Strood just before midnight.

The surrounding area was sealed off while crews brought the blaze in the single-storey building, believed to be Adams Motor Repairs, under control.

Firefighters in breathing apparatus tackled the fire with three jets and set up a water shuttle.

Watch manager Anthony Fox from Medway station said: “When we got there there was heavy smoke issuing from the building.

"Due to the severity of the fire, we ended up with six appliances at the incident and a height vehicle.

“It was a severe fire inside the unit which pretty much destroyed the whole unit itself but we managed to stop the fire spreading laterally to the units either side.

“Unfortunately the occupier lost two dogs in the fire. I think they’d probably died before we arrived.

“We believe it was an accident, possibly a fault in some equipment but we can’t be certain. We don’t suspect foul play or arson.”

By 1.30am crews had extinguished the main fire, and they used the height vehicle to allow them to use cold-cutting firefighting equipment to access the concealed roof space.

Shortly after 2.30am, the incident was scaled down and just two fire engines remained at the scene with crews leaving just after 4.15am.

The cold-cutting equipment is a portable lance that punches holes into a building allowing firefighters to blast gravel and water inside compartments, rooms or voids within a building.

It creates a superfine mist of water and reduces the temperature of a fire by several hundred degrees within seconds and means property can be preserved more effectively, firefighting time is dramatically cut and significantly less water used.

Fire crews are also safer as the risk of backdraughts and flashovers are greatly reduced.