Firefighters have issued a safety warning after being called to an electric blanket fire this morning.

A crew from Medway Fire Station went to a house in Corporation Road, Gillingham, after a woman woke up to find her electric blanket had caught fire at around 3.30am.

She wrapped the blanket up and called the fire brigade before leaving the property with her daughter and the family dog.

The small fire was put out quickly and a spokesman for the station said: “Make sure you don’t use a blanket while you’re asleep, they’re only meant to be used to heat them bed up before you get in it.

“You should also get them checked yearly by an electrician, because when they’re folded up and put away the filaments can break.”