A family of four were saved by their smoke alarms last night after a pan of oil caught fire.

Fire crews were called to Francis Road at 9.18pm where they dealt with a smouldering kitchen fire.

The pan had been left unattended in the kitchen and caught fire. The smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm alerted the mother of three to what was happening in her kitchen.

John Allwright, watch manager at Dartford, said: “She put a dry tea towel over the pan which also caught fire, so she use a bucket of water but this only made it worse.

“When we arrived it was only smouldering but damage had already been done to some of the work tops, cupboards and the ceiling but the fire had almost put itself out.

“We replaced the smoke alarms before leaving and it's really good they had their working.

“They tried to do the right thing and but the best thing to do is call us to tackle the fire, as one of the children did.

“They were lucky not to have been seriously injured and fortunately all four of them are fine.

“One of our most frequent calls is to accidental house fires and the advice is always get, out stay out, call us out.”

Firefighters at Dartford were also called out to a washing machine fire in a first floor flat in Overy Street yesterday.

The blaze was reported at 4.06pm and when crews arrived there was some damage to the worktops and the machine was burnt out.

No injuries were reported.