A landlord has spoken out after a devastating blaze left his tenants homeless, despite there being a fire station less than half a mile away.

A family of four were forced into temporary accommodation after their rented home in St James Close on the Isle of Grain went up in flames in a suspected arson.

Firefighters tackle property fire in St James Close, Isle of Grain

Nobody was injured during the drama on Saturday, September 21, but it caused extensive damage to the property.

The fire spread from a van which was parked outside.

Police launched an investigation into the fire and a GoFundMe page was set up for the family.

Their landlord, Simon Mullane of Homes to Let Ltd, believes the damage to the house could have been prevented if the fire station in Chapel Road - 0.3 miles away - had been in operation on the night.

He said: “It was preventable, it could have been simply a burned vehicle. No one would have been out of their home, no one would have lost their possessions.”

The next closest fire station in Hoo - nine miles away - was also not in operation.

Fire crews from Chatham and Strood arrived in 17 minutes.

Kent Fire and Rescue’s assistant director for operational responses Chris Colgan said more volunteers are needed to man stations.

He said: “An on-call station can only be operational when enough on-call firefighters are available to be on shift at the same time, and on the date of this incident, Grain and Hoo did not have cover to be an operational resource.

“The availability of an on-call fire station is reliant on having at least three on-call firefighters with the correct skill set available for the same shift.

“In order for on-call fire stations to be able to respond to incidents 24 hours a day, we need more local people, who live within five minutes of a fire station, to apply to become on-call firefighters to allow for greater availability.”

Both stations are recruiting on-call firefighters and more information can be found here.

Alternatively, visit either station on one of their drill nights on Wednesdays at 7pm.

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