Electrical fault causes fire in commerical building

Crews were called to a fire in Colchester last night after reports of smoke emerging from the back of a building in Colne View Retail Park.

Firefighters were called to a fire in a commercial building at 11:08pm, when the smoke alarm sounded and the key-holder discovered evidence of a fire.

On arrival, crews confirmed that the rear of the building was 20% alight and the building was 100% smoke-logged.

Firefighters worked quickly to extinguish the fire and cleared the building of smoke by 12:15am.

The room where the fire started suffered significant fire damage, but fortunately the remainder of the building remains in tact.

Crew Manager at Colchester Fire Station, Luke Beardmore, said “Crews from Colchester and Clacton worked really hard in challenging conditions. Thanks to their quick action, we were able to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas of the building.

“The fire was caused by a piece of equipment which was left charging overnight and caught fire.

"We would encourage everyone to supervise electrical items while charging, and avoid leaving appliances charging overnight. Batteries can quickly overheat if they are overcharged and are regular causes of fires in Essex.”

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Some of our Firefighters from Clacton are on-call Firefighters, who all live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station and attend incidents.

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be an on-call firefighter too.

Find out more about the role at essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call