A man has said firefighters came through his garden and rescued a small girl from a next door house fire in Ilford.

Dad-of-two Ahsan Latif told the Recorder that his family had to evacuate their home as fire crews tackled the blaze at a terraced house in Windsor Road last night (Wednesday, October 23).

Ahsan said he got home from work between 9pm and 9.30pm, after the fire next door had been brought under control.

He has lived on Windsor Road since 2011 and is there with his wife and two children, a boy and girl.

"My family called me to say there was a fire", he said.

"The firefighters rescued a small girl from the house [next door]. They went in through my garden.

"It has been quite traumatic and shocking for us."

Another neighbour, Nisha Parthipan, said a man in his late 40s lives in the property where the fire happened.

She described the windows "blasting" and said a firefighter helped her mother, who is in her late 60s.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said four fire engines and around 25 firefighters were called out to the fire at 7.20pm on Wednesday.

Crews had got the fire under control shortly after 8.15pm.

An LFB spokesman said: "Part of the ground and first floors of a terraced house were damaged by the fire. One man left the property before the arrival of the brigade.

"The cause of the fire is under investigation."