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Last Updated: Friday, 27 August, 2004, 12:52 GMT 13:52 UK
One dead after blaze above shop
Bexhill fire (picture courtesy East Sussex Fire & Rescue)
The fire caused the roof of the property to collapse
One person has been killed and three other people, including a child, were injured when a fire swept through flats above a shop in East Sussex.

The victim, who has not been named, is believed to be a woman in her fifties.

More than 70 firefighters spent more than five hours tackling the fire in Sackville Road, Bexhill, which started just after 0840 BST on Friday.

A man, a woman and a boy were taken to Conquest Hospital in Hastings, where they were treated for smoke inhalation.

On arrival, emergency crews found the Wheel Mobility Care Centre and the two flats located above it well alight.

It is believed the fire started on the second floor, but the intensity caused the roof to burn through and collapse.

Bexhill fire (picture courtesy East Sussex Fire & Rescue)
One man managed to climb out of a window of the building
Four people were able to walk out of the property unaided, but one man had to be rescued from the first floor.

People in neighbouring flats had to be evacuated from their homes.

Eyewitness Godfrey John, who runs an estate agents opposite the scene of the fire, said he first saw smoke which "gradually gathered impetus".

"I saw a man climb out of a window and he stood on a flat piece of roof. He was covered in soot," he told the BBC.

Mr John said the man was rescued when a camper van reversed up to the building and stopped just below the window so that he could climb onto it.

Flats on one side of the property where the fire broke out suffered severe smoke and heat damage.

An investigation will be carried out into the cause of the fire.




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