A TEENAGER was left fighting for her life after she was pulled from the burning wreckage of her car by a passing off-duty London fireman.The 17-year-old driver of a blue Ford Fiesta is in a specialist London hospital after she suffered serious head injuries in a two-car crash in Clacton on Friday night.

A TEENAGER was left fighting for her life after she was pulled from the burning wreckage of her car by a passing off-duty London fireman.

The 17-year-old driver of a blue Ford Fiesta is in a specialist London hospital after she suffered serious head injuries in a two-car crash in Clacton on Friday night.

She and her friend, also 17, were travelling from their home town of Clacton up the hill on Burrs Road towards Holland-on-Sea when they were in collision with a grey Vauxhall Vectra opposite the large cemetery shortly after 9.30pm.

Her front-seat passenger managed to free the wrecked Fiesta, but seconds later it caught fire while she was still trapped inside.

An off-duty London firefighter, who lives near the scene, heroically ran to the burning wreck and pulled the driver from the car to safety.

Just as he was caring for the teenager, crews from Clacton fire station arrived and dealt with the flames, which had engulfed an overhanging tree.

The two teenagers were taken to Colchester General Hospital with the passenger suffering serious hip injuries.

The driver was later transferred to a London hospital with critical head injuries and last night her condition was described as "serious but stable".

All three occupants of the Vectra, a 22-year-old man, a 29-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman, who are also all from Clacton and who were travelling down the hill, were taken to the Colchester hospital with minor injuries.

A section of the road, which was the scene of another accident only a few days before, was closed for three hours while police investigated the accident.

A firefighter from Clacton station, who did not want to be named, said: "The London firefighter was a hero.

"When we got there he was trying to treat the driver. It had been a really tricky situation and quite scary as the flames were threatening to catch hold and with the tree there it was quite scary."

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Stanway road policing unit on 01206 762512.