PHOTOS: Furnace explosion in factory

Firefighters are currently dealing with an incident in Swinbourne Drive, Braintree after a furnace exploded in a factory.

Crews are currently working to extinguish the fire alongside site staff.

All staff members have been evactuated while crews deal with this incident.

Please avoid the area while emergency services deal with this incident.

This is an on-going incident and we will provide updates.

Update 1.45pm

Firefighters have extinguished the fire using dry powder and will remain at the scene to monitor any hotspots.

Area Manager Neil Fenwick said: “Crews did an excellent job with site staff to stop the fire from spreading and to make the scene safe. We worked closely with our partners in the Ambulance Service to ensure the scene was being managed safely.”

Update 3:30pm

Firefighters made the scene safe by 3pm.

An investigation to establish the cause of the fire is currently being carried out.

Station Manager Jez Tuckwell, Incident Commander said: “I’d really like to thank the site staff for assisting us with this incident and ensuring all 50 members of staff were safely evacuated. This was a great partnership effort to safely resolve this incident.”

Update

The cause of the fire was found to be accidental.

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Some of the firefighters at this incident are on-call firefighters - people who live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station and are paid to protect their community as on-call firefighters. 

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be an on-call firefighter. 

Find out more at join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call