Firefighters raced to two separate fires in Sittingbourne within the space of just an hour last night.

Four fire engines rushed to the scene of a roof blaze at a property in Shortlands Road shortly before 7.30pm, where crews had to use hose reel jets to tackle and extinguish the flames.

A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "The South East Coast Ambulance Service treated and discharged eight casualties, aged between four and mid 50s, who had breathed in smoke."

He added that the damage was contained to the roof space and the cause was accidental, possibly an electrical fault.

The fire service was then called to a second fire at 8.18pm, a cooker blaze at a property in College Road.

Crews again used hose reel jets to tackle the fire, which had spread from the cooker to the roof.

The fire spokesman said: "When our crews arrived they found that the resident had been cooking dinner when the pan he was using caught alight. Unfortunately, the extractor fan had sucked the fire into the extractor’s pipework which then melted, enabling the fire to spread to the roof area above the kitchen."

There were no reports of any injuries, he added.

Two fire engines were sent to this call-out and crews left at about 9.20pm.

Read more: All the latest news from Sittingbourne