A sleeping 12-year-old girl who was home alone fled a burning flat and then ran back in to save her cat.

A smoke alarm woke her after a car battery caught fire in the kitchen.

Kingston and Surbiton fire crews were called to the flat at Bramley House, Crescent Road, Kingston on Wednesday, August 1 at 1.18pm.

After safely evacuating the flat, the girl went back to retrieve her cat before a neighbour called the fire brigade.

She was taken to Kingston Hospital but later released.

The kitchen was totally destroyed and there was smoke damage to a bedroom and the bathroom.
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Crew manager Brennan Healey, of Kingston fire station, said: “Because the girl was sleeping the smoke alarm was crucial - she is only here now because of it.”