UPDATE: Eight kittens rescued from Eastwood house fire

The incident happened last night shortly after 9pm at a property on Addison Villas.

Two on-call crews attended the incident, one from Eastwood (NFRS) and the other from Heanor (DFRS), which involved a fire on the ground floor.

The call came in at 9.27pm and upon arrival a breathing apparatus crew entered the property to extinguish the fire and search for the kittens – which were reported to be inside.

There were no people in the property at the time of arrival.

The house has been quite badly damaged with fire and smoke damage, and has been left uninhabitable.

The occupants - a young couple, their kids and the kittens - have since been ‘taken in’ by family and friends.

“When we arrived on the scene we found a developing fire in a room on the ground floor,” said Eastwood Crew Manager Paul Bradley, who was the Initial Incident Commander.

“Two breathing apparatus wearers from Eastwood went in and started firefighting and a further two from Heanor went in to locate and rescue the kittens.

“Eight were brought out in total and each one was given oxygen therapy by one of the crew – who had got them huddled in a fire tunic. Thanks to the quick work from the firefighters I believe they are all now fit and well.”

The crews boarded up the property and left it in the hands of the occupants shortly before 11.30pm.