Residents have spoken of a family’s “scary” ordeal after a fire destroyed their house last night.

London Fire Brigade received a call at 10.09pm alerting them to the fire in Wadeville Avenue, Chadwell Heath, and found four people who managed to escape before evacuations began.

Witnesses say they saw one car alight in the driveway before the fire spread to a car beside it, with the flames eventually engulfing the house.

Residents say the family inside managed to escape before the fire got to the house.

The house was destroyed, with a London Fire Brigade spokeswoman describing it as “100 per cent damaged”.

The damage spread to two neighbouring properties, which were only partly burnt in the blaze.

Inder Gill, 24, of Wadeville Avenue, said he was alerted to the fire by noise near his home.

“The noise started at 10pm but I though it was a party or something,” he said. “About 10.15pm one of my neighbours rang and said there’s a car on fire and I came out – it [the house fire] lit up the whole of the front of the house.

“There was a ball of fire around the front of the house.

“Everyone came out and someone took the children into their house. There wasn’t anything anyone could do – no one could stop it.”

Bal Chahal, of Wadeville Avenue, said: “People were screaming and telling people to get out of their houses – it was really scary.

“I’ve never seen anything like it here – I was so shaken. It spread so quickly. Everyone’s thinking about their own escape routes in their houses now.”

Naren Davda, of Wadeville Avenue, said: “I heard a bang like a gun shot and I looked outside and saw the car was on fire.”

Barking and Dagenham fire crews attended the scene alongside teams from Romford, Hainault and Ilford, with six fire engines used to tackle the flames.

London Ambulance Service attended after being called at 10.28pm, sending a Hazardous Area Response Team but no-one was injured or taken to hospital.

The road remains cordoned off. Police say the fire is under investigation.