A woman who left her hair straighteners switched on sparked a fire in Rainham last night.

Her mother returned to the family home in Deanwood Drive to discover alarms sounding and smoke seeping from a bedroom window.

Her daughter, aged 27, had gone out and left the hair styling tool smouldering on a pillow on her bed.

Bedding and a mattress were smoke-damaged.

Firefighters were called at about 7.20pm and managed to contain the smoke to the bedroom of the semi-detached house.

Crew manager Darryl Spicer said the straighteners were probably left on for about 45 minutes and the incident could have been more serious if her mother had not come back.

He said: "This is a warning never to leave electrical appliances unattended, especially hair straighteners which give out intense heat."