Leanne Butland's birthday began with a shock when her kitchen went up in flames early today.

Leanne, 32 today, and husband Neil were sleeping when the fire started and say they owe their lives to their smoke alarm.

Bank clerks Neil and Leanne were woken at 6.20am by the alarm in the hallway of their house in Elm Drive, Hove.

They grabbed some clothes and dashed out of their terraced home as flames and thick smoke billowed from the kitchen.

Leanne said: "What a way to spend my birthday! But at least we are both all right.

Two fire crews tackled the blaze, which ruined the kitchen and smoke-damaged the rest of the house.

Neil, 31, said: "We don't normally get up until 7am, so we were still fast asleep when the alarm went off.

"The kitchen was well alight when we got downstairs from what appears to be an electrical fault in the cooker.

"But we owe our lives to the smoke alarm and I would recommend everyone who doesn't have one to get one fitted.

"If it had not gone off when it did, we might not be standing here now."

Leanne said: "The kitchen is a mess and there is smoke damage to the rest of the house.

"We are going to have some friends round tonight for a get-together, so we will be spending the rest of the day clearing up."