Elderly residents had to be evacuated from their sheltered accommodation after a blaze broke out on the second floor.

Firefighters were called to Patching Lodge, Freshfield Road, Brighton, at 7.33pm today.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service sent six appliances and used an aerial ladder platform to help extinguish the blaze.

One person has to be rescued from the building but no one was reported to be seriously injured.

It is not known what caused the fire.