29/12/2016 South East Today

Residents from five households in Tenterden have spent the night

in temporary accommodation because of a fire.

At its height, 35 firefighters tackled the blaze at a three storey

Today, this family home is a burnt out empty shell.

Last night, a fire broke out as the occupants went

I walked across the road to see what was going on, yeah,

a lot of firemen getting ready to sort out the fire.

What was incredible, they really got on it quickly

Eventually, after many hours, they came well equipped

and dealt with it very efficiently and professionally.

The fire is believed to have started on the ground floor.

It wasn't noticed until it was large enough to be seen by passers-by.

What made this fire particularly complicated is that six

of the houses have a small area of shared roof space that goes along

so all the families in the other houses also had to be evacuated.

35 firefighters with eight fire engines attended the scene.

It is important to remember homes do have an increased fire loading

because of Christmas decorations and we are still investigating this

incident so it is too early to say what caused it,

unfortunately if a fire starts at this time of year,

we see rapid-fire development and the extra goods and decorations

Fortunately, no one was killed or injured here last night

but the three family cats sadly perished.

Tonight all of the neighbours that were evacuated back in their own

homes and it seems the properties have no lasting damage because of

the quick work of the crew. They put holes into the roof of the

neighbours house to stop the fire spreading all the way down this

block. But the family of the main house have lost everything,

including their family pets. A salvage operation to recover

the fishing boat which capsized off the Kent coast on Tuesday evening

causing at least one of the fisherman onboard to drown

is expected to get under way One person was winched to safety

from the Belgian-registered vessel after it got into difficulty

several mild off Ramsgate yesterday. A second crew member was also

rescued but later died - A Kent man is on the verge

of becoming the youngest person ever 21-year-old Ryan Holmes

from Whistable is due to complete his epic charity

challenge on New Year's Eve. On a cold frosty morning,

it is marathon number 98 for Ryan. He has covered more than 2,500

miles, running an average of two races a week,

including doing 12 in 12 days. I've done lots of multi-day events,

where you have to get up day after day after day,

and it's been cold, rainy, windy, and some days you still have to get

up and drag yourself out of bed. But it's been a good

journey, it's been fun. I'm just looking forward

to the end of it now. It doesn't matter whether he wins -

he's on track to become a world record holder,

having run 100 marathons And he's raised thousands of pounds

for blood cancer research, in honour of his family friend

Paul Denton, who is I mean, he's only 48,

and the fact that he's so young and he's struggling with that,

it's nice to put a bit of awareness out and sort of any

little money I could raise Ryan's challenge has

taken him around the country, and earned him a horde

of finishers' medals. It's an absolutely amazing

achievement that he's doing, we are constantly amazed

by the lengths that We don't receive any money

at all from the government, so we are reliant on supporters

and fundraisers, who are always And Ryan's efforts are

really quite incredible. He'll run another marathon tomorrow,

and on New Year's Eve in Deal, he'll complete his 100th

race to earn him a place Turtle doves are often associated

with Christmas thanks to the carol. But this iconic British

species has been in decline since the mid nineties,

in part due to intensive farming methods, and is the UK's

most threatened species. Now residents in Kent have

bought a plot of land where they hope they can encourage

the birds to return. For the last eight years,

titled girls have been using this plot of land in Staple near Sandwich

so when it came up for sale, local residents clubbed together

to buy it for them. We always listen out for them

in the early spring. The purring airing

the sound of the male birds is a fantastic,

evocative The turtle dove has symbolised love

and devotion of thousands of years For every 100 birds in the 70s,

there are now just nine today. And they are only found

in the south-east and east of and. Turtledoves eat the seeds of arable

plants or weeds and the problem now is with farmers making more

efficient use of their land, there is little land left over

where these plants can thrive. Every year, they migrate

to sub-Saharan Africa travelling 5000 kilometres each way

and when they arrive back in Staple, it is vital

they feed well and quickly. They are hungry, they are exhausted,

they need to find sufficient food to 30 years ago, they were having

three or four broods, nowadays it takes much longer to get

in breeding condition. Unless we can reverse the decline,

they will be extinct within the next The residents are working hard

throughout the winter to make this patch of land in a Kent village seem

like home to the Time for the weather. After a misty

and for the start, lovely this afternoon, decent spells of sunshine

snike, clearer skies and with snike, clearer skies and with

lighter winds, quite dense mist and fog patches. They will be slow to

clear and the temperatures falling away. -2 or minus three degrees in

rural spots. Misty, foggy and frosty Friday and again through the morning

the mist and fog is slow to clear and by the afternoon we see more

brightness but we still have a westerly airflow so more cloud

around on Friday than today. Temperatures five or 6 degrees,

feeling cooler and numbers suggest. Saturday, for the most part a cloudy

picture, by the afternoon temperatures reaching highs of seven

or 8 degrees and if you are heading out for New Year's Eve, it should

stay dry, chilly but into New Year's Day we will see rain but good news

for partygoers, staying dry. That is all from me. I am back at ten past

11. Goodbye. Temperatures have dropped away

shortly and we have seen some fog, particularly through the Midlands.

We do have some clout drifting in from the west. By the end of the

night, towards the East Midlands as well. Further north, more of a

breeze from the south-west, bringing in a weather front. Keeping the

temperatures at seven or 8 degrees. Freezing or just below to the

south-east corner. Fog will live to low cloud and generally speaking a

lot more cloud than we saw today. Northern Scotland is the focal point

for wet and windy weather. Confined to the north and west of Scotland

where temperatures will be quite mild, ten or 11 degrees for Glasgow,

Belfast.