PHOTO: Discarded cigarette catches outbuilding alight

Firefighters were called to an outbuilding fire in Loughton at 1:33pm.

On arrival, crews reported an outbuilding attached to a house was on fire and was beginning to spread to two houses.

Crews worked quickly to prevent the fire spreading further and extinguished it by 2:21pm.

Firefighters believe it was caused by a discarded cigarette.

Station Manager Nick Singleton said: “This was the second fire our crews had been to this weekend caused by a discarded cigarette. Please, if you are a smoker, take care when discarding cigarettes. Make sure they are properly stubbed out before you discard them as the embers from a lit cigarette can quickly cause devastating fires.”

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Waltham Abbey’s firefighters are on-call firefighters, who live or work within 5 minutes of the station and are paid to protect their community. 

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 and how to apply at join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call