Lit cigarette leads to kitchen blaze

Firefighters spent an hour tackling the blaze at the house in Reginald Road after neighbours alerted them.

The property suffered extensive smoke damage but no-one was hurt.

Graham Hobden, crew manager at Bexhill fire station, said the flat was empty at the time when the fire broke out at around 11.30am on Saturday.

He said: "The fire was on the middle floor and there was one man on the floor below who was helped out by neighbours. His home was unaffected.

"The fire was accidentally started by a cigarette and the flat suffered a lot of smoke damage. Neighbours saw the fire in the kitchen from the window outside so alerted us."