A FAMILY of seven had a narrow escape after a hot tub caught fire and threatened to blow up a gas main.

Maria and Simon Williams fled with their five children from their home in May Avenue, Canvey, after spotting flames leaping from a summer house in their garden.

The outbuilding housed a spa just a few feet away from a gas main.

Mrs Williams, 33, wokeher youngest children, Cody, seven, and Logan, three, and ran from the house with Konor, 14, and Tyler, 13.

Mr Williams and his 19-year-old son, Joe, grabbed a garden hose in a desperate attempt to stop the blaze from spreading to their home and to the nearby gas pipe.

The 42-year-old dad said: "We tried hosing it down, but it was useless, so we just kept trying to damp the fence down because the fire was creeping nearer to the main and the house.

"It was really frightening. The conservatory was melting."

Mr Williams, who said the hot tub was already there when the family moved to the house more than two years ago, added: "It may have been an electrical fault, but the tub was turned off at the time.

"We had just emptied it to clean it out for the bank holiday, so it didn't help that it had no water in it."

While Mrs Williams and the children sought shelter with a neighbour, Canvey firefighters battled to stop the fire reaching the gas main.

Leading firefighter Paul Conyard said: "The spa, caught alight right next to a gas main regulator.

"We had to train jets on it until the gas company arrived to make it safe.

"The cause of the fire has not yet been determined but it razed the conservatory to the ground."

Despite their ordeal, the family still hope to replace their spa.

Mr Williams said: "The novelty wears off for adults, but the children just love it, so I think we will replace it.

"I am just thankful that no one was hurt."