AN assisted living residential building was evacuated in the early hours of this morning after a fire broke out in Dawlish.

Fire crews from Dawlish, Newton Abbot, Teignmouth and Torquay rushed to Elm Grove Road, Dawlish at 4.30am this morning (Saturday).

Phoenix Learning and Care has confirmed that the fire concerned one of their assisted living services in the town.

Mark Heywood-Briggs, Group Commercial Director, said: ‘We can confirm that an incident occurred in the early hours of the 1stJanuary in one of our registered services.

‘A swift evacuation of the building occurred.

‘All people were immediately accounted for and are safe and well.

‘They have been accommodated locally with support in line with our business contingency plan, we thank the emergency services for their swift response.’

Shortly before 7am Fire Control reported that the incident was ongoing but the fire was out.

They would be releasing more details later.