Four fire engines were called to a suspected high rise flat fire.

Pumps from Roedean, Hove and Preston Circus Fire Stations attended after neighbours raised the alarm at Astra House in Kings Road, Brighton, shortly after 8pm tonight.

However, on arrival crews realised the alarm had been sounded because a resident had been cooking and left the flat.

A spokesman for Preston Circus warned people not to leave food cooking unattended.

He said a bulldog had been trapped in the flat as it filled with smoke.

Crews had to break in and he said a fire could have started and the dog could have died from the smoke.

The spokesman said: “Obviously it is dangerous putting food on and then going out. It would have caught fire and the dog would have died.

“But the bulldog was very friendly and it would have made a useless guard dog.”