A MOTHER and her two young children fled their burning home after a fire started in the kitchen.

The family escaped their town house in Hoursome Court, Beggarwood last night, as the fire took hold on the first floor.

A brave neighbour then entered the building, turned off the gas and shut the kitchen door to contain the fire and prevent further damage.

Etienne Patterson, crew manager at Basingstoke fire station, said: “This was very good action.”

Eleven firefighters attended the incident at 9pm, and spent an hour putting out the blaze.

Mr Patterson said: “It was pretty much contained in the kitchen. It’s a bit of a mess but they followed what we tell people to do, which is get yourself out and call us and that’s what happened. The smoke alarms were sounding so they had added to the alert.”