A CLOSE-KNIT community has been rocked by a “scary” ordeal after a highly-flammable grassland was torched twice in as many days.

Crews from Clacton and Weeley were first called to a field fire near Triumph Avenue, in Jaywick, shortly before 9.15pm on Tuesday.

Upon arrival the firefighters were confronted with a large grass area measuring approximately 70 metres by 20 metres which was alight.

The following evening, shortly after 8.10pm, crews from Clacton headed out to the same location after a section of the same field went up in flames yet again.

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The infernos were extinguished by 10.37pm and 9.38pm, respectively, with both fires being recorded as accidental or deliberate.

Now calls are being made for more activities to be put on to keep children out of trouble.

Bradley Thompson, chairman of Jaywick Sands Neighbourhood Watch, said: “I find these fires totally unbelievable.

“If the wind was not blowing towards grasslands and towards Lotus Way the wooden houses in Lotus Way would have all gone up.

“It does not matter if it’s a child or an adult who is responsible - they should know better and you can’t blame the actions on a parent.

“Children here need more things to do in the community so this sort of actions stop. Let’s hope this does not happen again as it could have been a lot worse.”

Nell Dreelan, who lives near to where the fires started, also believes more activities in the area for youngsters to engage in might help reduce anti-social behaviour.

She added: “More time needs to be invested in the children because it seems they are forgotten.

“There is never anything for them to do and sometimes young people turn to doing bad things if there is nothing better to do.

“Addressing that issue would likely go a long way to stopping things like this happening, although some of the children actually assisted the emergency services.”

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Jayne Nash, Tendring councillor for West Clacton and Jaywick, has now praised the firefighters who responded to the two blazes.

“I went down there and it was horrific but the fire brigade was brilliant in trying to contain the fire as it was near houses,” she added.

“I know there’s not much for them to do in Jaywick but I want to ask parents to keep a closer eye on the children now.

“I would like to thank the fire brigade and police for their services at that scary time.”