PHOTOS: Garden fire spreads to three houses

Firefighters are advising residents to place bonfires and fire pits well away from any flammable materials like sheds, fences, trees etc after a fire in Writtle in the early hours of this morning. 

Crews were called to East View, Writtle at 3:32am where a fire had spread from a garden to fence panels and to the roof spaces of two houses.

On arrival, crews reported that the fire was affecting three properties and requested the help of Brentwood and Ingatestone fire stations as well as an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) from Grays Fire Station. 

Crews isolated the power supply to the properties with UK Power Networks while they used the ALP to inspect the roof spaces. The fire had spread to the roof spaces of two houses.

Firefighters extinguished the fire and made the scene safe by 7:30am.

A resident has been rendered homeless and two other houses were affected by the fire. 

Firefighters suspect the fire was caused by embers from a fire pit.

Station Manager Mark Elliott said: “We’d like to thank our control room for their swift response to this incident and getting the right crews and equipment to help us extinguish this fire.

"Firefighters worked quickly to gain access to adjacent properties to prevent the fire spreading any further other than those already affected on arrival.

"Working with partners from UK Power Networks and Cadent Gas, crews were able to make the scene safe.

"We would like to thank the local residents for their patience while we carried out firefighting operations as a number of properties had their power isolated.

“We suspect this fire was caused by embers from a fire pit and our advice if you want to use a fire pit or a bonfire is to give it plenty of room. Set it up well away from anything that could catch fire like fences, sheds, trees, garden furniture etc as embers can easily be carried in a slight breeze and smoulder causing a fire.”

If you're planning to have a bonfire or firepit, please follow our safety advice:

• Site the bonfire well away from houses, garages, sheds, fences, overhead cables, trees and shrubs
• Never leave the bonfire burning unattended
• Build the stack so that it is stable and will not collapse outwards or to one side
• NEVER use flammable liquids - paraffin or petrol - to light the fire
• Don't burn foam-filled furniture, aerosols, tins of paint and bottles
• Keep everyone away from the fire - especially children, who must be supervised at all times
• Pour water on the embers before leaving

Could you be an on-cal firefighter?

Firefighters from Ingatestone Fire Station are on-call - they live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station and attend incidents.

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could protect your community.

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

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