THIS is the moment firefighters battled a burning Mercedes - described by one witness as a "fireball". 

A crew from Swindon's Drove Road fire station were sent to the car fire shortly after 8.10am this morning. 

The burning red Mercedes closed Whitehill Way southbound near the Blagrove Roundabout, with police stopping commuters on their way to work.

Swindon firefighters got the fire under control within minutes, using a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire. The blaze was out by shortly after 8.23am, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

James Lawrie-Ashton, 26, who filmed the firefighters tackling the blaze, said: "The fire got stronger very quickly. You could really feel the heat from it. It was a real surprise."

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