A woman in her 80s was helped to safety by firefighters when a tea towel left on an electric ring in the kitchen of her Westbury-on-Trym flat caught fire.

Avon Fire and Rescue crews said the woman was already making her way out of the third-floor flat in Lakewood Road after a smoke alarm sounded on Friday at about 5pm.

They gave her oxygen before paramedics took her to hospital for a check-up.

Although the fire was small, it had filled the flat with smoke.