Firefighters were called to a railway embankment in Sheerness after a spark on the rails caused by a passing train set grass alight.

The incident happened at about 7.45pm on Friday and affected about 20 sq ft of dry grass in land off Queensway.

A fire engine from Sheerness attended and extinguished the fire in 20 minutes.

Resident Sue Austin was upstairs trying to take a photograph of the sun setting when she noticed the flames.

The 39-year-old shouted down to her husband Adrian, who ran to the nearby footbridge linking Queensway with Cromwell Road from where he took photos.

The fire brigade had already been called. Mrs Austin said a neighbour's daughter had seen the spark come from the track. A resident had tried to tackle the flames with a garden hose.

"Quite a few of us were out there watching the fire," she said. "But the firefighters quickly arrived and put it all out."

Luckily, the fencing between the homes and track is metal so there was no chance of it catching alight.

Crews are also carrying out regular visits to a hay bale fire at a barn near Queenborough off the A249. This has been ablaze since Thursday.

Fire officers have decided to allow the fire to continue to burn under control until it exhausts all remaining fuel.