Cornwall Road kitchen fire

Another cat escaped through the top floor window and took refuge on a balcony until rescued by a fire fighter from Bexhill community station.

Neighbours heard the alarms set off by fire from the kitchen on the first floor on Thursday and having seen smoke coming out of the building called for emergency services at 12.45pm.

There was no-one inside at the time because the occupants had gone out to the shops.

Officer-in-charge Graham Hobden said: "Unfortunately there was this incident because they had been packing stuff into boxes, and placed these on kitchen worktops but also on the top of the cooker, and unfortunately one of the cooker plates was on.

"This is a reminder for everybody not to place anything on top of the cooker regardless of whether they think its turned on or off - a cooker can be turned on accidentally."