FIRE crews dealt with a kitchen fire in a hotel.

The blaze in the basement of Alexander House Hotel & Utopia Spa in East Street, Turners Hill, started just before 4am today.

Two fire engines from nearby were sent to the scene and confirmed that smoke was pouring from the hotel's kitchen.

They asked for another crew almost straight away and one was sent, arriving at 4.20am.

Six firefighters wearing breathing gear and carrying hoses went into the smoke-logged basement to tackle the flames.

Due to the severity of the fire, two more fire engines followed minutes later.

According to a West Sussex Fire and Rescue spokesman, the building of three floors was "sectorized", meaning different teams were tasked to do different things, such as containing the spread of heat or damping down adjoining walls.

The fire spread to a ground floor toilet. The area has been dampened down

In the end, crews from East Grinstead, Turners Hill, Haywards Heath, Horsham and Crawley were sent along with an incident command unit.

Crews reported making "steady progress" earlier this morning. By 10am crews were damping down the area and cutting away the damage.

Leanne Cleaver, marketing manager for the hotel, told The Argus: "All staff and guests were evacuated fully.

"We have no reason to speculate that it was anything more than accidental but an investigation is ongoing."