The owner of three snakes was taken to hospital along with his four-year-old daughter after he attempted to put out a chip pan fire in his kitchen.

Firefighters from Strood fire station were called to Elmwood Road, Chattenden, at 7:30pm on Sunday.

Once they arrived at the scene they found that the man had attempted to battle the blaze himself, receiving burns to his arm and inhaling smoke.

They took over and soon found there were a number of animals in the house as well. A number of kittens had hidden in the commotion and three snakes were also in the house, along with two dogs, a rabbit and a pair of goldish.

Once firefighters had extinguished the fire they used a high powered fan to clear the smoke from the house. All of the animals survived.

The crew spent an hour and a half at the scene.

Watch manager Martin Simmons said: "We would advise members of the public not to extinguish fires and not to leave cooking unattended."

An 18-year-old who was in the house at the time did not need to go to hospital.