Several families were evacuated from their homes after a huge blaze in Tenterden last night.

The fire in the Golden Square area gutted a house and took around seven hours to get under control.

Fire crews were called out to a home in the Golden Square area between Oaks Road and Beacon Oak Road around 7.20pm yesterday.

At its height, around 35 firefighters with eight fire engines, a height vehicle and a command support unit, dealt with the fire on the ground floor of a three-storey property.

Robert Gibbs, a corporate sales director, who lives just metres away from the gutted row of houses with his wife and children, described the dramatic scenes.

He said: "We heard all the commotion, smelt smoke and saw a lot of activity over there.

"My understanding is that thankfully they all got out and no one was hurt, which is fantastic.

"But the houses look gutted, you can see daylight through the roof.

"It was pretty dramatic to watch. Quite a lot of people were evacuated from neighbouring houses.

"There were so many firemen there and the were just amazing. They really were heroic in their relentless effort to extinguish the fire and stop it spreading."

Crews wearing breathing apparatus used hose reel jets, covering jets and fog spikes to tackle the blaze from inside and outside the property.

Police provided traffic control and evacuated neighbouring properties to a refuge set up by the local authority.

The fire service were also assisted by UK Power Networks, gas safety engineers and the volunteer response team.

There were no reports of any injuries and a cat has been rescued from the property.

A spokesman for Ashford Borough Council said: "Following a fire at a private house last night the council set up a rest centre for affected residents.

“Subsequent to this, two households were put into temporary emergency accommodation last night but have since been able to return home.

“The council will of course give further support and signposting to affected residents as necessary.”