Firefighters have rescued a woman from a kitchen fire after chips caught alight.

Crews were called to Greenwell Road, Witham shortly after 12.30am this morning (July 28).

The woman had left chips cooking on a tray on the hob while she was upstairs and it caught fire.

She tried to put it out with a dry tea towel which quickly caught fire and caused the fire to spread to the extractor and cookers.

Crews were able to rescue the woman through the first floor window and extinguish the fire.

Watch manager Andy Mott said: "The incident shows the dangers of leaving cooking unattended, even for a short time, and especially when cooking with hot oil.

"Although there was a working smoke alarm on the first floor, there wasn't one on the ground floor, which would have acted as an early warning.

"Make sure you have a working smoke alarm on every floor.

"Thankfully the quick intervention and professionalism from crews prevented the incident from escalating."

Crews extinguished the fire by 1.25am before administering first aid to the woman who has breathed in smoke and suffered burns to one of her hands.

The cause of the fire has been recorded as accidental.