Crews arrived at Central Auto Care Ltd, at Fengate Trade Park, Fengate, at 9.55pm to find three cars and a pile of about 50 to 60 tyres on fire.

The fire had already started to spread to the external fascia of Central Auto Care Ltd and the outside wall of nearby SAS Engineering Services.

Thick black smoke could be seen billowing across the Frank Perkins Parkway as firefighters from Stanground, Thorney, Yaxley and Dogsthorpe, and one crew from the Peterborough Volunteers, got to work, using breathing apparatus, to extinguish the blaze by 11.43pm.

They also released a guard dog at the compound, which was looked after by a passer-by until the company owners arrived.

Station manager for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Lynn Betteridge said: "When we arrived, the fire had already started to spread to these buildings and there was a real danger that it could take hold at any minute. If this had happened, we would have been looking at a much larger incident.Thanks to the quick actions of the first firefighters at the scene, we managed to prevent this spread."

The inside of both SAS Engineering and Central Auto Care suffered heavy smoke logging. Fire damage was limited to the exterior walls.

An investigation team will be returning to the scene this morning to determine the cause of the fire.