A father and son fled their home after a kitchen fire spread out of control.

Neighbours raised the alarm after they smelled smoke coming from the semi-detached house in Caburn Road, Hove, on Friday night.

Three fire crews tackled the blaze and neighbours were evacuated as a precaution.

The property belongs to an imam - a Muslim religious leader - and his family.

He stayed overnight with neighbours but, apart from confirming they were all right, declined to talk about the blaze.

Teacher Graham Odlin, who lives nearby, said: "We could smell smoke at around 9.30pm and then our smoke alarms went off.

"We could see smoke and flames coming from the windows and hear glass cracking from the heat.

"The imam and his son could not get back into their house because of the damage and spent the night with neighbours."

An East Sussex fire brigade spokeswoman said: "Half the house was damaged by flames and all of it by smoke."