BRAVE neighbours stopped a fierce rubbish fire from spreading to homes and engulfing a van as young children screamed in terror.
Robert Gabriel Ungureanu and Andrei Bulete worked together to stop the fire from reaching homes and a van when the blaze got out of control in Dee Way in Tolladine, Worcester last night (Thursday).
The pair from Avon Road shifted the Mercedes out of the remorseless path of fire, smashing the window with a brick and pushing the van to safety.
Two fire crews - one each from Worcester and Droitwich – were called to a fire in the open at Dee Way, Worcester at 7.14pm as residents called 999 and flames climbed up the conifers which form the hedgerow.
The fire was about to spread to a neighbour's van, parked next to the hedge in an area previously highlighted as a hotspot for flytipping by campaigner Edward Kimberley.
READ MORE: Tolladine tip - mouldy mattresses, raw meat and bones
READ MORE: Rule change on 'Human rabbit hutches' claim about Worcester HMOs
Images show the heat was so intense it melted the rear lights and mudguards on the van.
Mr Bulete spotted a brick and handed it to Mr Ungureanu who smashed the driver's side window and released the handbrake so they could push the white van out of the way of the fire, towards the junction with Avon Road.
Mr Ungureanu's five-year-old daughter was in their garden with a seven-year-old friend when he heard their screams - and now he says she is so scared she does not want the family to have a barbecue in case it causes a fire.
The 27-year-old said: "They started screaming and crying. My daughter said 'mummy, mummy! Fire!' She saw the flames and she was scared.
"I can see the fire from my lounge window. It's not the first time we have called firefighters about this. It's a big problem. Most people were just watching the fire and filming it. A smashed window is better than the whole van going up in flames."
They have since video-called the owner of the van who thanked them for saving the vehicle. Mr Ungureanu estimates there have been around 25 controlled fires in the garden in the last year but that firefighters have been called five or six times.
"If we had not moved the van it would have caught fire. We helped as much as we could before firefighters arrived. The fire could have spread to the houses - that was our worry. We had two children in the house." he said.
Both pointed out how close the fire was to an electrical substation.
Mr Bulete became aware of the fire when he heard what sounded like a small explosion. "We were all lucky the wind wasn't blowing in the other direction. If that was the case it would have spread much quicker. I was shaking," he said.
A woman who lives at the property where the rubbish fire started said workmen had been burning rubbish in the garden. The tenant said she had been living there a year and the garden had been cleared three to four times since she moved in but 'people keep dumping stuff'.
The woman, who declined to be named, said the landlord was coming out to look at the fire damage to the fence.
She had been in Lowesmoor and returned to find fire crews at the scene. West Mercia Police did not attend and said it had not been reported to them.
A spokesperson for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said: "The fire involved garden rubbish, 30m of hedgerow and conifers which were well alight. Two hosereel jets and one main jet were used to extinguish the fire. There were no casualties and no other emergency services attended. The incident was marked as pending closure at 8.27pm."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here