A man escaped from a fire which ripped through flats above a seafront bar after he was woken by a smoke alarm.

The resident of the flats above the Kazbah in Marine Parade, Worthing, had to push his way through smoke before making a dash for the fire escape.

The man, who would only give his name as Kato, said: "I live on the second floor and heard the alarm. I managed to escape but this is the second time we've had a fire here in two days.

"There has been a tramp here for about a week. I chased him away because he started the fire the other day on the first floor.

"I managed to put it out. It worried me and I secured the windows so he couldn't come back."

Firefighters arrived at 2.30am today. It took them almost three hours before the blaze was under control.

Only one of the flats was occupied by tenants.

Firefighters said they were suspicious the blaze had been started by someone sleeping rough in an empty flat.

After searching for two hours they were satisfied no one was trapped in the building.

Station Officer Peter Marsh said: "When we got here we thought there were persons unaccounted for and thought people were dossing in there.

"We knew it was used by vagrants and squatters and could not be sure if there was anyone in there because of smoke.

"We don't know how it started but believe it might be suspicious and are awaiting the investigation team. It could have been a vagrant who started it."

The interior of the building on the first and second floors is severely damaged but the Kazbah only suffered water damage.

This morning electricians were carrying out safety checks at the bar, which re-opened under new ownership three weeks ago.