A fire spread from a car to a north Essex house, causing damage to its garage and roof.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service was called to reports of a fire in Great Notley, near Braintree, at around 4.35pm today.

A passer-by alerted the fire service after seeing a car alight next to a house.

When crews arrived they reported that the car and house were on fire.

Crews from Braintree, Wethersfield, Halstead, Chelmsford were joined by a team from Leigh, which was driving through Braintree returning from a training exercise.

Firefighters had the blaze under control by 6pm and managed to stop it spreading beyond the garage and roof, which were damaged along with the car.

The cause of the fire has been deemed accidental – the car, which had not been used for some time, caught on fire after being started, with the flames then spreading to the house.

Incident commander Simon Dedman said: “The firefighters first on scene worked very quickly to control the fire. They immediately went into the house and thanks to the speed of their actions, managed to stop the fire spreading and damaging the rest of the property and the contents.

“The car has been destroyed and the garage has been badly fire damaged. Part of the roof has been damaged, but the rest of the house has been saved.”