A CALAMITY at the funeral of Pauline Hewer, known affectionately as Calne's "Salvation Army Lady" was narrowly avoided thanks to quick-thinking teenagers who extinguished a burning car minutes before her horse-drawn hearse passed by.

Teenagers David Malone, 17, and Lewis Shergold, 16, borrowed a fire extinguisher from the Showtime video store to smother the flames from the vintage car, which had managed to limp into the taxi rank outside the library.

They were assisted by the publican of the King's Arms in the High Street, Sean Harflet, who damped down the engine with a fire extinguisher he had brought from the pub.

Leading firefighter Tom Burns, who later attended the scene, said he suspected that the blaze was caused by an electrical fault.

Mrs Hewer, of the Slades, who died aged 75, joined the Salvation Army when she was 16 and spent 50 years distributing the Army's newspaper Warcry and collecting donations in local pubs, until illness forced her to stop at the age of 69.

Her horse-drawn hearse, according to Jay Montague of funeral directors E Wootten and Son, is believed to be the first in Calne in living memory.

The hearse was making its way towards Calne town centre, heading for Holy Trinity Church in Wessington Avenue, when the car fire started at The Strand.

Moments after the teenagers had started to tackle the flames, a fire engine arrived to make the vehicle safe.

A witness telephoned the funeral directors, concerned that the flames and the fire engine's sirens might panic the horses leading the funeral cortege.

One of the funeral directors' staff, Tony Turtle, then leapt into the support vehicle at the rear of the cortege and jumped out as the car pulled up at the High Street.

He sprinted down the pedestrianised High Street to head off the procession, which was preparing to turn from Curzon Street into The Strand, and asked the crew to turn off their sirens before the hearse reached the library.

Then as the hearse approached the library, two liveried grooms dismounted from the carriage and walked the horses past the smoking car, as the fire fighters took off their helmets and bowed their heads in respect. Len Moore, 57, the son-in-law of Mrs Hewer, said: "I think what those boys did was brilliant. They are very brave chaps and I'm very impressed. At the time I didn't realise what was happening.

"It would have been a disaster as far as the procession was concerned if the fire had not been extinguished. In the worst case scenario the horses could have bolted and that would have been very upsetting to say the least."

The teenagers, who work in the bakery at Somerfield, in Mill Street, said they were eating their lunch outside Lloyds Bank in the High Street at 12.40pm on Wednesday when they saw smoke coming from the direction of the library. David, of Heron Close, said: "I'm an ex-Army cadet and part of the training is if no-one is doing anything, take control of the situation.

"We put the fire out and it wasn't until we saw the horses coming down the street that we knew there was a funeral."

Publican Mr Harflet, 22, said the fire was coming from the boot of the vintage car, where the engine was situated. "I didn't know anything about the funeral until people started coming in for a few drinks afterwards," he said.

"The burning car could have scared the horses and rattled them because it was right next to the main road and they would have had to go past it."

There was a full congregation for Mrs Hewer's funeral. Her son-in-law said afterwards: "It was packed. The service went wonderfully.

"It's difficult to equate the word 'wonderful' with a funeral, but it was really nice.

"The reaction of local people was amazing. They all wanted to say a last goodbye to her."

adavey@newswilts.co.uk