A BUDDING policeman has made his first glowing impression on the long arm of the law after helping at the scene of a fire.

Daniel Williamson, 17, was on his way home from a Boxing Day shift at McDonald’s in Tollgate when he spotted smoke coming from a garden shed in Egerton Green Road, Colchester.

Just as his Renault Clio passed the scene, the smoke exploded into a fireball.

A cylinder inside the wooden shed had exploded.

Worried the scene was close to a petrol station in Shrub End Road, Daniel pulled up and blocked motorists from passing.

He was praised by police.

Daniel, of Berechurch Hall Road, Colchester, said: “I was going to the petrol station.

“I saw this shed was on fire, there was black smoke coming out.

“As soon as I drove past it, it exploded, it made my car move a bit. It was right by me, it shook me.

“About 20 people ran out around the area and it was near the petrol station and the cars weren’t stopping.

“I went up the road a little bit and pulled in front of a car and starting blocking the road with my car so no one could get past.”

Daniel explained to drivers why he was blocking the road and encouraged them to turn back.

The fire brigade arrived on the scene a few minutes later, followed by the police.

Daniel said: “Afterwards, when the fire was out, they drove up to me and said ‘thanks for helping out, thanks for doing our job’, and that it was now under control so I could go.”

Daniel, previously of the Colne Community School and College in Brightlingsea, is in the second and final year of his public services course at Colchester Institute and said what happened reaffirmed his ideal job to be a police officer.

Three fire crews attended the scene at 1.25pm on Boxing Day.

Firefighters moved two more cylinders away from the fire to safety.

The fire was out about an hour later.

The shed was completely destroyed, and the ground floor of the house it belonged to was also badly smoke damaged.

The cause of the fire has been recorded as accidental.