Update: Mother, child and dog escape fire

5:12pm Tuesday 26th August 2008

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A MOTHER was taken to hospital last night (August 25) after a blaze at her home in St Paul's Cray.

The 23-year-old managed to get out of the maisonette in Kingsgate Close with her three-year-old son.

Her partner and other son were not in the property at the time and her Rottweiler puppy was rescued by a neighbour.

The fire started in an upstairs bedroom at around 7.40pm.

Nearby resident Christine Monaghan, 14, of Main Road, said: "I was quite shocked to open my door and see the fire.

"I saw a window crack and there was thick black smoke."

The Priory School pupil says she saw the man who lives in the maisonette nearby and he was devastated to learn his home was on fire.

A nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said: "All the smoke was pouring out of the window then the whole window in the other doorway exploded with a bang.

"By the time I had come out a couple of blokes from the estate had run over with a fire extinguisher."

Crews from Orpington, Bromley and Sidcup, fought the flames and managed to stop the fire from spreading.

They were there for around two and a half hours.

The woman was taken to Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, as a precaution.