RESIDENTS in Little Thurrock, Grays, rallied to tackle a car fire in a neighbour's vehicle this evening (Friday, 27 October).

The black saloon car was parked outside its owner's house when the underside of the engine caught light.

Passing motorists stopped to alert the owner, who was in the house, just before 6pm and also called the Fire Service.

An initial effort to tackle the flames, which at one point were shooting from the top of the engine, with a handheld powder extinguisher only temporarily doused the flames, as did buckets of water carried in containers from a nearby house.

A garden hose does the job.

A neighbour then rushed to the car fire, as its owner was unloading children's equipment including a pram and a car seat, and used a larger extinguisher to douse most of the fire.

Another resident then uncoiled a hose from the his house to keep the fire restricted before the arrival of a fire crew from Grays fire station.