A family had a lucky escape after a pile of rubbish set fire and started melting a gas main.

At just after 11.30pm yesterday a pile of waste set ablaze in the front garden of a home in Trafalgar Street, Gillingham.

The flames reached up the walls and began to melt a gas main and a window frame.

Two adults and two children were in the house at the time.

Two fire engines attended and fire crews used a hose reel jet to extinguish the blaze.

They then used a high pressure fan to clear the house of smoke.

The gas board isolated the property's gas supply.

Two adults and two children were checked over by paramedics for the effects smoke inhalation as a precaution.

The cause is believed to be accidental.

Fire crews also put out a burning motorhome which was set alight in Gillingham.

Then they went to Tap 'n' Tin nightclub, in Railway Street, Chatham after a reveller set the fire alarm off.

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