More than 100 firefighters were called into action at the weekend to deal with a spate of blazes across Sussex.

About 60 from stations in the county were alerted to a suspected arson attack at a disused hotel.

Flames ripped through the five-storey Grand Hotel, Sea Road, Bexhill, which is known to be used by vagrants.

Windows in the roof dormers caved in and the roof and inside rooms were severely damaged. A building inspector was called amid fears the hotel may collapse.

The fire, which started at 10.25pm on Friday, was out by 2am but four fire engines remained at the scene well into Saturday morning.

In Sedlescombe, near Battle, five people escaped from a Tudor cottage, which was severely damaged by fire.

About 40 firefighters were called to The Street on Friday evening when flames caught hold in the cottage roof at about 7.45pm.

Much of the roof was destroyed and the rest of the building suffered smoke and water damage.

Firefighters successfully fought to stop the blaze from spreading to a nearby house but it too suffered water damage.

Five people, including three women and two men, escaped and no one was injured.

East Sussex Fire Brigade spokeswoman Suzanne Gooch said: "We believe it was started by a chimney fire."

A man was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in the bedroom of his flat in Clun Road, Littlehampton, on Friday.

The fire was believed to have started in a faulty games console.

Elsewhere, crews from Littlehampton and Midhurst attended a flat fire in Market Close, Barnham, on Saturday night and found smoke billowing from the ground floor. The occupier and his two children escaped after being alerted by a smoke alarm but their pet budgie died.

In Hove, a householder discovered a fire in an upstairs flat after water started dripping through his ceiling.

The blaze had burnt through piping in the top-floor flat in York Avenue on Saturday morning.