A young man has been praised after he rushed into a burning house to help rescue a family without any thought for his own safety.

Jason Saunders was at home when he noticed smoke billowing from his neighbour’s house in Fairway Close, Rochester.

The blaze at the back of the property all but destroyed the ground floor.

Firefighters were called and two women were carried to safety. Another three escaped the flames.

A man in the house had heard the fire alarm and went to investigate. He discovered the tumble dryer was alight and called 999, before helping his elderly father out of the house.

His disabled mother, in her 60s, was trapped upstairs and when fire crews arrived they rescued her as well as her daughter, believed to be in her 40s.

Mr Saunders, 24, also entered the house without a care for himself to help get a fifth man to safety – as did one of the paramedics.

“I was watching TV, waiting for my other half and daughter, when I saw smoke coming out the house,” he said. “I ran over to see what was going on and there was loads of smoke coming through the windows and through the hallway.

“There was a man in the hallway who didn’t want to leave - he was refusing to. I told him to get out and managed to convince him. I just made sure he was safe and sat him down on the wall.”

Fire crews arrived shortly after at 2.30pm on Wednesday and rescued the rest of the family.

“I was a bit shaken up but I had to control myself and make sure everyone was ok,” added Mr Saunders.

“The family were very sad because they’d lost their home. They wanted it to still be their home. It was sad to see.”

His girlfriend Charlotte Arnold had been out with their six-moth-old baby and her sister and the fire was out when they returned.

She said: “When he said about the rescue I was so proud of him, he’s never done anything like that before. He just ran into the house to help.”

"I was a bit shaken up but I had to control myself and make sure everyone was OK" - Jason Saunders

Both women and the elderly father were taken to hospital suffering from the effects of breathing in smoke, and one of the women had burns to her hand.

About 14 firefighters went to the house to tackle the blaze.

They also had to ventilate two neighbouring properties because of smoke.

Ann Millington, head of Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) said: “I cannot praise our firefighters enough. They worked very hard in difficult and challenging conditions to get the family out safely and to stop the fire spreading to neighbouring properties.

“This is a very upsetting incident for the family concerned. We are thankful that their injuries weren’t more serious.

The family are staying at a hotel temporarily.”

She thanked South East Coast Ambulance Service, Kent Police, Medway Council, MHS Housing and “not least of all” the British Red Cross who provided valuable emotional and practical support to the family.