Fatal house fire

Firefighters were called to a house fire in Mountdale Gardens, Leigh during the early hours of this morning.

On arrival, crews reported that there was a fire in the ground floor of a mid-terraced house.

After evacuating neighbours from either side of the property, firefighters worked to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring properties. 

The fire was extinguished by 4am

An investigation will be held to determine the cause of the fire.

Sadly, a woman died at the scene.

An Essex Police statement reads:

We were called to a fire at a house in Mountdale Gardens, Leigh-on-Sea shortly after 2.15am today (Wednesday 29 March).

Sadly, a woman found inside had died.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service will carry out an investigation into the cause of the fire but we are not currently treating the woman’s death as suspicious.

Update 4:30pm 

An investigation carried out to determine the cause of the fire found it was caused accidentally due to a fault in an electric consumer unit.