BEFORE fire crews were able to attend the fire at the Cap and Feathers pub in Tillingham on Saturday, villagers were helping to control the blaze.

Tillingham Village Council chairman, Robert Harvey was round the corner from the pub when he first saw the fire.

He said: “We were stood outside the house and saw the smoke when it started. I knew something was wrong.

“We ran down the street to see what was happening, and as we turned the corner we saw Peter, the pub landlord, unravelling a hose to try and fight the fire.

“The whole side of this little outbuilding was covered in tar and on fire. The flames were at least four or five foot above the building.

“The water pressure wasn’t enough to fight the fire despite the hoses residents were bringing out, so I screamed for buckets of water to try and control the flames.

“There were kids there, who must have been about ten or twelve. They were scurrying backwards and forwards along this lane, carrying buckets of water from the houses up to the pub for us to throw over the side of the building and onto the fire.

“It was this intense heat from the tar. We managed to get it pretty much under control as the fire crews arrived thankfully.

“We have always had a great community spirit in Tillingham, but it is great to see people still coming together to help like this. I think people reacted instinctively off of what they saw and how they thought they could help.”