Residents of a Leslie street feared their homes would be engulfed in flames after a car exploded in the middle of the night.
Two vehicles were destroyed in the blast at The Bowery, which woke neighbours just after 2am on Friday.
Police are treating the fire, which started in a Cupra before spreading to a Transit van parked beside it, as deliberate.
One neighbour tried to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose, while others moved their cars to stop the fire from spreading.
A resident, who asked not to be named, told The Courier how thick black smoke filled the entire street.
“The fire was already raging by the time I came outside,” he said.
“I saw one man trying to put the fire out but it was just no use as the car was completely consumed by flames by then.
“The fire brigade then arrived and set about trying to put the fire out.
“The real fear was that the burning car would further explode and set fire to homes just a few feet away.
“It was a big relief when the fire crew arrived.”
Another man, who lives just yards from where the fire started, told how he ran out of his home in just a pair of shorts to save his car.
He said: “I was woken by what sounded like a loud explosion, and looked out the window to see a car already well alight.
“I immediately ran out to move my car and managed to do so just in time.
“Within moments the car was covered in flames.
“It was an inferno with flames shooting up out of the windows.”
Plainclothes police have been carrying out house-to-house inquiries throughout the morning in a bid to determine how the fire started.
It’s understood officers have retrieved CCTV footage from several properties.
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We received the alert at 2.17am of a vehicle on fire at The Bowery in Leslie.
“One appliance was despatched from nearby Glenrothes station.
“On arrival officers found a vehicle to be well alight.
“The fire was extinguished a short time later and the crew stood down at 2.55am.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 2.20am on Friday, 29 March, 2024 officers were called to a report of a vehicle fire in Leslie, Glenrothes.
“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service put out the fire, which is now being treated as wilful.
“A van parked nearby was also damaged in this incident.
“Enquiries are ongoing.”
