A woman has died in a flat fire in Great Yarmouth.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service were called to Rodney Road at around 10.45am today (Friday, October 26) following reports of a fire.

The fire, which is not thought to be suspicious, has been dealt with but a heavy emergency services presence remains in the area.

Chief Insp Nathan Clark said when police officers arrived they tried to save the unresponsive woman’s life using CPR before handing over to paramedics, who then spent another 50 minutes trying to save her.

“It is a tragedy and we will be investigating the circumstances. It is not believed to be suspicious at this stage. We will be bringing in specialist scene of crimes officers.”

Mr Clark added that one of the main problems in dealing with the incident was the amount of smoke in the basement flat. He said no other people in the other flats were injured or affected by the fire physically.

Police are in the process of trying to tell the woman’s relatives that she has died.

The ambulance service mobilised one ambulance, one rapid response vehicle and one ambulance officer and the East Anglian Air Ambulance was also called in and landed on the seafront.

Mark Little, the main ambulance officer at the scene, said: “Our thoughts go out to out to family and friends of the deceased person at this time.”

Mr Little praised the joint emergency services protocol measures that were enforced as the incident escalated and said : “They worked together as one team.”

The Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service said it sent four fire engines from Great Yarmouth and Gorleston fire stations to tackle the basement flat fire.