Loft fire

A family has been left temporarily homeless after a loft fire in Thorpe Bay.

Firefighters from Southend and Shoeburyness attended a house in Thorpe Hall Avenue yesterday at 7.45pm.

Crews extinguished a fire in the loft space by 8.25pm. They removed materials from the loft, used a fan to clear the smoke and used a thermal imaging camera to check for hotspots.

Crew Manager Richard Burch said: "The bathroom lights kept on tripping and when one of the occupants checked the loft he noticed smoke.

"Crews quickly extinguished the fire and stopped it from spreading, however the roof has been left unsafe due to damage to the timbers.  

"We would encourage people to keep clutter in their lofts to a minimum to stop fire spreading in an incident such as this."

The cause of the fire has been recorded as accidental.

Do you have working smoke alarms?

The property in Thorpe Hall Avenue had working smoke alarms on both floors.

We want every home in Essex to have the excellent protection that smoke alarms offer. Smoke alarms can alert you, a neighbour or passer-by to a fire and give you a chance to escape your home safely.

To arrange your FREE fitting, call 0300 303 0088 or visit essex-fire.gov.uk/book.

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Firefighters from Shoeburyness are on-call firefighters who live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station.

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be paid to protect your community as an on-call firefighter. Find out more at join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call.