A blaze was stopped from spreading when smoke began pouring from the floorboards of a child’s bedroom.

Firefighters from Strood were called to Bill Street Road at about 1.40pm yesterday after the householder dialled 999.

When the crew arrived they could see and smell smoke, but there was no sign of a fire.

After the power in the house was turned off, firefighters lifted the wooden floorboards to find a tiny fire had broken out, possibly caused by an electrical fault.

A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "The homeowner did the right thing by calling us.

"If we had not found the fire it could have spread, but we were able to stop it before it got any bigger.

"It may have been caused by a small electrical fault in wires under the floorboards.

"Unfortunately we’ve had to leave the power off and it won’t be able to be turned on again until the problem is fixed."