A mystery bus driving hero helped stop a house burning to the ground.

The driver raised the alarm when he saw flames coming from a house as he drove his bus past.

He stopped his bus and knocked on the door telling the house owner, who was at home with his girlfriend, that his roof was on fire.

The fire brigade and police were called out and the road was closed for nearly three hours.

It took firefighters two hours to put out the blaze at about 9pm on Sunday.

Chelmsford fire station officer Justin Johnson said: "The house owner and his girlfriend are fine but it's a good thing they were alerted by the bus driver who told them their loft was on fire."

He added: "It started in the loft, I'd presume the blaze was linked to the chimney.

"There was considerable damage to the loft space but we stopped it going downstairs but it did spread to next door's loft."

The roof was badly damaged and next door was smoke damaged.

The owner of the house, in Main Road, Margaretting, declined to comment.

Published Tuesday, March 19, 2002