A family fled their home in the early hours of this morning after a tumble dryer caught alight.

They were woken by smoke alarms in their house in Crown Lane in Stelling Minnis just before 2am and a teenage member of the family managed to close the door of the utility room to stop the fire spreading.

Two fire engines went to the scene and the crews tackled the blaze with a hose reel jet before clearing the smoke with a high pressure fan.

All four occupants had evacuated the property and there were no reported injuries.

The fire is believed to have started accidentally while the tumble dryer was in operation.

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