Residents evacuated from homes after flat fire

Firefighters have tackled a blaze in a block of flats in Plymouth, with residents evacuated from their homes.

Crews were called to the fire in a three-story building at about 08:20 GMT, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue (DSFRS) said.

Six appliances and an aerial ladder platform were used to fight the fire and the resident of the ground-floor flat involved was taken to safety. Neighbouring residents were also evacuated from their homes.

Watch manager Tim Quiterio said the crews dealing with the incident were "fantastic" and the fire was under control.

He said: "Crews are dampening down and making sure the area is safe.

"They were checking to make sure there was no fire spread to the roof itself and the integrity of the roof is good."

Mr Quiterio added it was too early to say the scale of the fire, but there was "quite a lot of charring outside around the windows".

"This time of year it's coming towards Christmas time, accidents do happen," he said.

"It's really important we do try and remember those safety measures.

"If the fire alarm does go off you should get out, stay out and call the fire service.

"We really encourage everyone to make sure they have a smoke alarm on every level of the house. Thankfully this property did have a smoke alarm and no-one was severely hurt.

The DSFRS fire investigator was conducting a thorough assessment of the incident, the fire service said.

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].