A FIRE engine collector put his hobby to good use when he rushed to the scene of a blaze and helped put it out.

David Middleton came to the rescue and helped the professionals douse the tyre fire on Tuesday night.

Mr Middleton, of Hamdean Farm, Peopleton, near Pershore, noticed the black smoke rising from Brickbarns Farm, off the A44 Evesham Road, and immediately jumped inside one of his huge airport fire engines.

At the scene, where a number of tyres and portable toilets were on fire inside an outdoor store, the 37-year-old farmer helped the Hereford & Worcester Fire And Rescue by pumping gallons of water out of his engine into theirs.

"I just helped out. It was the first time I've gone out to a fire. We have three engines in total. We bought them in sales. The one I used the other night is the one in the best condition and in complete working order."

Mr Middleton said he spends every spare minute tending to his three engines, which his family decided to buy after a fire at their cattle farm 10 years ago destroyed a barn.

He said: "My father said if we had chance to buy one we should. Well we bought one and then we got the other two not long after. It started as a bit of a hobby and now they are my pride and joy. Looking after them is just like looking after a giant classic car."

Mr Middleton, a member of the Fire Preservation Group and Fire Brigade Society, took a HGV driving test so he could drive the engines, which are larger than the fire service's standard red engines.

He hoped that by restoring the engines he has helped preserve them.

"These are big appliances and collectors don't have anywhere to keep them. If no one bought them they would be left for scrap. It's a shame."

Fire crews, not including Mr Middleton, were called to the blaze at the Andy Loos depot in Brickbarn Farm just after 6pm on Tuesday.

They were at the scene until about midnight. No one was injured in the blaze.