A fire in a terraced house which caused panic-stricken neighbours to flee their homes in their nightclothes is not being treated as suspicious.

Flames were leaping out of the windows and through the roof when firefighters arrived at the property in Station Road, Strood around 11pm on Thursday.

The cause of the fire was not known at the time but today, a police spokesman said it is not currently being treated as suspicious.

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Firefighters told Kent Online on Friday morning that there was around 30 people, including the elderly couple who lived next door, gathered in the street.

With temperatures below freezing, some took refuge in the nearby pub, The Steam Packet, which was still open.

Crew manager Andy Griffiths said smoke was seeping from the top floors of neighbouring properties and there was a real danger of the fire spreading to other houses.

He said: "When we got there it had obviously been going for some time. We managed to contain it with minimum smoke damage to the properties either side.

Video: A fire broke out at house in Strood

"When we arrived some were panicking because they thought it would spread to their homes but crews worked hard to prevent that happening. Tiles were coming off the roof.

"At first we did not know whether there was anyone in there and nobody seemed to know if the person that lives there was in or out."

The blaze destroyed the first floor of the mid-terraced property and half of the roof space. The neighbouring properties were damaged by smoke.

At the height of the fire around 22 firefighters were at the scene. Four breathing apparatus teams fought the fire using two hose reels and a main jet.

Five fire engines from Strood, Rochester, Chatham and Thameside stations called to the property, reduced to two just after midnight. The final crew left three hours later at 2.06am.

A KFRS spokesman said: "Fire crews arrived on the scene within five minutes of receiving the 999 call to find flames coming out of top floor bedroom window and smoke that appeared to be coming from the entire row of terraced houses.

"Two neighbouring properties containing two brothers and an elderly couple had to be evacuated due to smoke travelling through common roof voids within the buildings."

Thermal imaging cameras were used to check to see if the fire had spread in the roof voids and crews used small tools to cut away and damp down. Smoke and fumes were cleared from the properties with a positive pressure ventilation fan.

The house was empty when the fire broke out and a police car remained outside the property for most of Friday.