Nine people were rescued after an arson attack at a seafront hotel in Hove early today.

One firefighter was injured by the 200F temperatures in the hotel basement where the blaze was started.

Seven people had to climb out of bedroom windows on the fifth and sixth floors to a fire brigade hydraulic platform.

An elderly couple on the first floor were led through smoke to safety, and the hotel manager had to scramble from his first-floor room across a glass canopy.

A receptionist at the Excelsior Hotel in Kingsway raised the alarm at 2.45am and said the building was full of smoke.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus found corridors filled with choking fumes. It was decided to evacuate guests from their bedroom windows.

Crews found a severe fire in the basement function room and corridors.

Firefighter Chris Walker suffered heat stress in the extreme temperatures. He went to the Royal Sussex County Hospital as a precaution.

Sub Officer Ron Kirkwood, in charge of the the operation, said: "It was very confined down there and temperatures exceeded 200F."

Guests and staff, many still in their night clothes, were transferred to the nearby Sackville Hotel.