Industrial unit fire

Update 8pm 

Crews have just left the scene of a large fire at an industrial unit in Progress Road, Eastwood after more than 36 hours of firefighting.

Throughout yesterday from the first call at 7:15am, we had ten crews, two aerial ladder platforms, a water bowser and our drone team working to extinguish the fire.

The incident slowly scaled down from 2:30pm as crews made progress to extinguish the fire in sections. 

Working alongside a partner organisation, crews were able to pull apart the remainder of the warehouse - which was approximately 200 square metres - using diggers to extinguish the remaining hotspots by 7:30pm on Sunday, 28 May.

A large warehouse containing car parts and packaging has been destroyed by fire. 

Area Manager Ian Adams, Executive Officer said: “Thank you to the public for their patience this weekend while we’ve dealt with this incident. We’ve had lots of calls throughout the weekend about this incident and it’s great to see people being vigilant in reporting fires when they see smoke. 

“We’d also like to thank our partner agencies for their support throughout the weekend.

“Our crews have worked tirelessly to extinguish this fire this weekend and prevent it spreading to neighbouring units. We sent a large number of resources to the scene and everyone worked brilliantly together to get the fire under control. 

“Since 7:15am yesterday, we’ve sent lots of fire stations across Essex to the scene for the initial response and lots of reliefs since then. This has been on top of a very busy weekend for our Service responding to a number of house fires and incidents all over the county.

“Our teams have also been helping with Ride London and Creamfields South festival and I’m proud of everyone working this weekend to help make Essex safe.”

A fire investigation was carried out to establish the cause of the fire and firefighters believe this fire was started deliberately. 

An Essex Police statement reads: “We’re liaising with colleagues in Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and an investigation will be carried out into the circumstances around a fire at an industrial unit in Progress Road, Leigh, which was reported to us shortly after 7.15am on Saturday 27 May.

“The investigation is in its early stages.”

Do you know who started this fire?

If you know how this fire started, you can report it to FireStoppers, 100% anonymously. FireStoppers is a completely independent charity, who are 100% anonymous, 100% of the time.

Call: 0800 169 5558 or report via the FireStoppers' website.

Update 4pm: 

Throughout the afternoon, two crews have been working with a partner organisation using diggers to dismantle the warehouse to cool the remaining hotspots. 

Crews will remain on scene into the evening to continue damping down the scene.

Update 12pm: 

Two crews and an aerial ladder platform will remain at the scene into the evening to extinguish and cool remaining hotspots. 

Update 8am

Two crews and an aerial ladder platform remain at the scene to extinguish remaining hotspots. 

We expect to be at the scene throughout the morning and into the afternoon.

Update 10pm

Two crews remain on scene damping down the area. 

We'll be keeping one crew at the scene at all times overnight to monitor hotspots. 

Update 6pm 

Three crews remain at the scene working with a partner organisation to pull apart the remainder of the warehouse using diggers to extinguish the remaining hotspots. 

We expect to remain at the scene overnight to continue damping down the scene and monitoring hotspots. 

Update 2:30pm

We’re now in a position to scale this incident down to five fire crews, two aerial ladder platforms, a water bowser and our drone team. 

Throughout the day, we’ve had ten crews, two aerial ladder platforms, a water bowser and our drone team working to extinguish this fire in sections and to prevent it from spreading further. 

Firefighters will likely remain on scene until the early evening to fully extinguish this fire. 

The cordon on Progress Road has been reduced. 

Group Manager Danny Partridge, Incident Commander said: “We’d like to thank the public for their patience while we deal with this incident. We know how disruptive it is when roads close and when we ask you to keep your windows and doors closed but keeping the public safe has been our priority. There has been lots of smoke coming from the scene and this is slowly starting to minimise as we extinguish the fire in sections. If you live or work close to this fire, we recommend you keep your windows and doors closed still. 

“Our crews worked quickly to get the fire under control and we’ve had lots of different resources here today working together to help us tackle the fire from above ground and on the ground. 

“We expect to remain on scene until the early evening and again thank the public for their patience.”

Update 10am

Firefighters have surrounded the fire and are working to extinguish it in sections. 

Crews are using two aerial ladder platforms to tackle the fire from above as well as from the ground. 

There is still lots of smoke coming from the scene, if you live or work nearby, please continue to keep your windows and doors closed. 

Firefighters are currently at the scene of a large fire at an industrial unit in Progress Road, Eastwood. 

We were called at 7:15am to reports of a fire in Progress Road and our Control Room received lots of calls to this due to the amount of smoke coming from the scene. 

Six crews were sent to the scene and requested the assistance of a further four crews as well as two Aerial Ladder Platforms, a Water Bowser and an Incident Command Unit. 

A large warehouse - measuring approximately 20 metres by 10 metres - is on fire and crews are working to contain the fire. 

There is a lot of smoke coming from the scene, if you live or work nearby, please keep your windows and doors closed.