Villagers and firefighters have described the dramatic scenes as flames engulfed a coastal village, destroying five homes.

Crews were able to save more properties from being lost to the fire, which swept through Brancaster, by draining thousands of litres of water from a swimming pool to battle the blaze.

The fire had started in a field near the village hall on Tuesday afternoon, as the area endured record high temperatures.

The flames spread rapidly through hedgerows and gardens, before they reached a row of four former council houses off the A149 coast road.

The derelict properties, which were due to be replaced with new social housing, were all unoccupied when they caught on fire at around 5pm.

As the first firefighters arrived soon afterwards, the properties were well alight and the fire had reached a neighbouring bungalow, from which a woman escaped before it was gutted by fire..

Fanned by a southerly wind, embers were blown across the road, setting fire to the marsh beyond. People living along Main Road were caught between two sets of flames, as the emergency services began evacuating those in the path of the fire.

Firefighters battled through the night to put out several fires. Volunteers from the Rapid Relief Team cooked hot meals from a makeshift field kitchen in a pub car park to keep them going.

"It was just terrifying," said Jude Neeves, who has lived in a pretty cottage on Main Road for 20 years. "We were so, so close.

"The embers came over the top to the marsh, the marsh was on fire, we were sandwiched between it. I can't commend the fire brigade enough."

Jeanne Woodhouse's home was also caught between two fires.

Crews were able to save it, and others, by hosing down the flames with thousands of litres of water pumped from the property's swimming pool.

"The wind changed, that was what was frightening. When the wind changed it started jumping from one place to another, there was just this crackling and the heat.

"If anyone's house was going to go up it was this one, it's all wood. They managed to get into our swimming pool. That water, it saved this house, it saved everything."

Mrs Woodhouse's husband Derek reckoned the pool, which was full before the fire, contained 100,000L of water.

As more and more appliances arrived to fight the still spreading blaze, water pressure fell just as it was needed most.

By 7pm, the fire service was throwing everything it had at the blaze, including an aerial ladder from Great Yarmouth. A water carrier from Hethersett arrived as the Woodhouses' pool began to run dry.

It came as a major incident was declared across Norfolk and Suffolk, with crews attending several fires as temperatures soared to record levels.

John Linden, a station manager from King's Lynn, was in charge of the 80 firefighters by now on the scene.

"I have to say I've done 31 years in the fire service and this was one of the most challenging incidents I've dealt with," he said. "We were lucky, very lucky.

"We had several seats of fire to contend with, it spread on the marshes, you can't speak highly enough of the crews.

"Derelict houses have been lost and sadly a property which was lived in, a lady has had to be relocated."

Firefighters were still damping down on Wednesday morning, as villagers took stock of the damage.

"I moved in there when they were first built, I was seven years old when my parents moved in there," said Colin Softley, 77, as he looked at what was left of the former council houses. "It's sad when anything like this happens.

"We were in there for the Coronation, so they were built in 1951 or '52. They were very nice houses for the time, that was the first house we had with a flush toilet."

Clifford and Ann Hendry's daughter Marlene Keeling lived in another of the properties with her two children before she was rehoused to Burnham Overy Staithe pending redevelopment of the site.

"That was lucky," he said. "My daughter lived in there for several years but they were going to knock them down."

Elsewhere, the fire left a trail of damage across the village with charred gardens and fences, hedgerows and boats destroyed.

David Baldwin, 80, who lives off Main Road, said: "We were evacuated. It came up from the marshland as well. My neighbour's hedge and everything is all gone. It was frightening."