A woman was lucky to escape with her life when she woke up by chance to find flames ripping through her Eastbourne flat.

She fled her home in Elms Avenue before firefighters arrived to tackle the flames at about 10.45pm on Friday.

Five residents and eight guests from the neighbouring Annabelle Hotel were evacuated as a precaution.

The fire is thought to have been caused by a discarded cigarette. Smoke alarms in the block of flats were not working.

Station Officer Mani Gilbert of Eastbourne fire station said: "We cannot stress enough the importance of fitting fire alarms which work. A battery costs a few pounds but you cannot put a price on a life.

"Had the occupier of this flat not woken up, the incident would have been much more serious.

"When we arrived flames were issuing from the windows of the property and the fire would probably have spread to the block's main hallway if the woman had not closed her front door when she left.

"Although we had put out the fire within about 15 minutes, the flat was completely gutted."