A WOMAN has admitted starting a blaze in a Southampton apartment block which forced two families to flee their homes in the middle of the night.

Plumes of smoke filled the hallway at the flats in Keynsham Road, Bitterne, after Charlene McCluskey started a fire in the bedroom of her council owned home.

Firefighters from the Hightown Station were called into action to tackle the fourth floor drama which resulted in one woman and two children being treated at the General Hospital for the effects of smoke inhalation.

As previously reported, mum-of-one Eva Wasilewska, who lives next door to where the fire broke out, described how she had her young cat Leon to thank for alerting her to the blaze in May.

She said at the time: “It was very scary, it was about 1.30am and I could hear my cat miaowing loudly, which woke me up.

“I’d never heard Leon miaow like that and then I heard the fire alarm and thought something must have happened. I could hear my neighbour shouting to her children and they ran out of the flat.”

She opened her windows and then fled the flat with her ten-year-old son, Maxwell.

Third floor occupant, Cher Crimble, 29, another mother-of-one, told the Echo how she had also been woken up by her cat, Bolt, rubbing his head against her.

“The whole floor was blackened and there were plumes of smoke. It was a little distressing at the time. I thought I would need to be evacuated”, she added.

Now McClusky, 29, has pleaded guilty at Southampton Crown Court to arson.

Prosecuting barrister Matthew Lawson explained that owing to her mental health state at the time, she would not have been able to understand why the fire might have spread and how it could have caused a risk to others.

Judge Gary Burrell QC adjourned sentence until next month, noting that the probation report should take into account the good progress she had been making.