LOUD explosions left two parked cars as blazing wrecks in Walton.

Elderly residents were awaken by the suspicious fires, which fire crews are investigating.

They and police were called to the scene at Homelands Court, off Garden Road, early on Thursday morning. But by the time they arrived, the cars could not be saved.

Peter Colby had been watching television at 12.30am when he heard a sound “like an artillery gun.”

“Within a few minutes there was another explosion. I thought ‘Christ, what was that?’ he continued.

The 68-year-old saw two cars had ‘blown up,’ including one belonging to neighbour Douglas Branson.

“Then I heard four more explosions but they were going off in the distance. I thought this did not sound good, so I phoned the police,” he said.

Mr Branson was asleep with wife June, 84, when he was woken up by the noise.

The 85-year-old phoned the fire brigade, who said they were on their way already, and by the time he went dressed and outside, his Citroen Saxo was “burnt to a shell.”

“Unfortunately, my neighbour’s car was parked alongside and copped it too,” he said.

Fire crews told him the car did not cause the fire as it hadn’t been driven for a day.

Douglas doubted anyone locally was responsible the vandalism, as all are elderly, who would have been asleep in their beds.

“It shook me. We are not youngsters. We are in our 80s. It’s shook everybody on our estate. It’s not something we are used to happening. It’s played havoc with our car park and messed up the fencing,” he said.

However, Walton and Frinton has been rocked by similar incidents in recent weeks.

“From talking to people around here, it’s becoming rife in this area. Once a week at least. Vandals in Frinton recently filled a milk bottle with petrol and threw it at a car,” Douglas added.

Both Frinton firecrews with breathing apparatus used hose reels to put out the fires.

Andy Oxley, crew manager at Frinton fire station, said he received the call-out at 12.45am and two cars were on fire, along with a large amount of fencing.

”We don’t know the cause, it looks suspicious, but the cars were so burnt out, we can’t really tell,” he added.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Police were called to Rochford Way in Walton, at around 1am on Thursday, September 29 following reports that two cars were on fire. The fire service is investigating the cause.”