PHOTOS: Bonfire embers spread to seven gardens

Firefighters are giving bonfire safety advice after embers from a bonfire caught a shed alight and spread to seven gardens in Wickford.

Five crews were called to Hereward Gardens at 11:56am where a number of fences panels, trees and sheds were on fire.

Crews worked quickly to prevent the fires from spreading to houses and extinguished the fire by 12:45pm.

Station Manager Jon Ford said: “Crews worked extremely hard to surround the fire and prevent it spreading further. I’d like to thank our control room for co-ordinating this incident.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire found it was caused by bonfire embers.

Station Manager Steve Osborn said: “We’d advise against having bonfires at the moment due to everything still being dry. Although the weather has cooled, everything is still really dry and all it takes is an ember to start a fire that can spread rapidly.

“We’d suggest people hold off on having any open fires until we’ve had more rain including bbqs and campfires/fire pits."