The incident happened as the group made their way to Sighisoara in Transylvania to deliver the fire engines, which are no longer needed in Shropshire, and train local fire officers to use them.

Locals were amazed to see Shropshire crews spring into action in the middle of Germany.

Assistant chief fire officer Steve Worrall said: “We had been following a Mercedes which started smoking and then burst into flames so we were on hand to put that out quickly.”

The incident happened on Saturday and the team arrived in Sighisoara in the early hours of yesterday.

They will spend the rest of this week training Romanian firefighters in how to use the fire engines and their equipment before a formal handover on Saturday, which will be attended by the British ambassador.

The fire engines, which are between 13 and 20 years old, will replace the much older vehicles being used in the country.

About 200 smoke alarms donated by Kidde Safety will also be distributed to homes in the medieval village of Viscri, which is a United Nations World Heritage Site.

The journey started in Shrewsbury in the early hours of Friday and saw the team travel to Calais, through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria and Hungary before reaching Romania. Mr Worrall said the four engines had not suffered any problems during the epic journey.

He said: “The engines went very well along the whole route.” The team fly back on Sunday.