Mum's flat blaze terror

More than 20 firefighters battled a blaze in a ground-floor flat in Winterbourne Lane, Lewes.

Kate Beniston, 25, lives above the flat. She grabbed her son Liam, aged one, and five-month-old daughter Shannon when she smelt smoke and heard an explosion.

She said: 'I was terrified.

'When I woke up my front room was filled with smoke and my first thought was to get the kids out.

'I heard a lot of banging and then a big explosion followed by the sound of glass smashing when the window blew out.

'I then got the kids together and rushed out of the house and when I got outside I saw the fire engines coming down the road.

'We were outside for a little while and then a neighbour let us go into her house.'

A woman was rescued by firefighters from the flat where the blaze started and shocked neighbours were evacuated from their homes.

The heat from the fire was so intense it buckled the uPVC window frames and destroyed the front room of the Lewes District Council flat.

A woman was inside at the time of the fire and was taken from the blazing flat by firefighters.

She was treated by paramedics at the scene for smoke inhalation and taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

An elderly woman and a male resident, who is partially disabled, were also evacuated from the small block of flats.

The morning after the blaze fire investigation officers were joined by police as they looked into the cause of the fire.

Police community support officers stood guard outside the flat while fire investigators examined the property.

A police spokesman said the fire was being treated as suspicious and officers were investigating the possibility of arson.

The fire broke out at around 10.20pm on Thursday last week and was brought under control within 20 minutes.