Striking firemen left their picket line to help rescue a seriously-injured crash victim.

Three people were reportedly trapped in the wreckage of a car and a van after a collision on the A264 at Horsham yesterday.

Firemen from Horsham were joined in the rescue by retained firefighters based at Billingshurst.

A Royal Navy rescue vehicle with heavy cutting gear was also sent to the scene.

The Sussex Police helicopter was needed to airlift the most seriously injured victim to the Princess Royal Hospital at Haywards Heath.

A Navy spokeswoman said: "We were initially told three people were trapped in the vehicles.

"However, when we arrived at the scene only one person needed to be released from the wreckage.

"The firemen at Horsham broke their strike to help in the rescue."

Meanwhile, four Horsham firefighters left their picket line to help a man with his thumb trapped under his car.

The man, in his 20s, who has not been named, was trying to change the tyre on his Vauxhall Tigra when the accident happened just yards from Horsham fire station.

A military media operations officer said: "It's quite bizarre. This chap had a puncture apparently and he caught his thumb in between the top of the jack and the bottom of the car."

On hearing of the incident, a group of firefighters grabbed their own lifting gear and went to his aid.

The spokesman said: "An ambulance was called first, then our rescue equipment support team was dispatched from Horsham.

"When they got there they found that four firemen from Horsham had left the picket line and had taken their own lifting gear from the fire station so our boys helped them lift the car off the man's thumb. Everybody mucked in."

The man was treated by paramedics at the scene and the firefighters returned to their picket line afterwards.

Elsewhere, a Green Goddess crew was called to a blazing car just yards from a fire station. Striking firemen at Shoreham would usually have been on the scene within minutes.

But the call to the blazing vehicle on the Holmbush roundabout was diverted to a Navy Green Goddess crew, one of only 16 covering Sussex.

The fire had burned itself out by the time the out-dated fire engine arrived at the scene. It is believed the car had been abandoned and was deliberately set on fire.

Other jobs included two Green Goddesses from Eastbourne being called to a house in Susan's Road, Eastbourne, at 3.15pm.

Smoke was seen pouring from the kitchen after food was left in a cooker. Crews helped clear the kitchen of smoke.

Two Green Goddesses were also sent to an empty house in Brighton after a neighbour noticed smoke coming from the kitchen.

The Navy crews from Brighton turned up in Matlock Road at 11.25am to find a pan smouldering on a stove.

Commander Simon Hardern, in charge of the Royal Navy operation to provide emergency fire cover in East and West Sussex, said the uncertainty of the strikes was "unnerving".

He said his troops were well prepared for the eight-day challenge and he praised the ageing Green Goddess engines for their reliability.

So far in Sussex, the Navy has suffered only one Green Goddess breakdown.

Commander Hardern, in charge of HMS Kent, said: "People are continuing to question the Green Goddesses but they are very reliable and simple."