PHOTOS: Wildfire

Firefighters spent the afternoon and evening tackling wildfires in Heybridge Woods View, Heybridge today.

On arrival, firefighters requested the help of three additional crews - a second crew from Maldon and crew each from Witham and South Woodham Ferrers as well as an off-road vehicle from Burnham to help deal with developing wildfires.

The fires were covering approximately two hectares of woodland and shrubland. 

The wildfires were in two separate areas and crews worked together to tackle both fires.

With difficult access and water supplies, crews set up a water relay to help extinguish the fires.

Firefighters extinguished the fire by 7:17pm and remained at the scene to monitor hotspots until 9:19pm.

Station Manager Terry Maher said: "Crews worked extremely hard in very hot and dry conditions to extinguish the two seperate fires and prevent them from spreading further."

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Burnham, Maldon, South Woodham Ferrers and Witham are all recruiting on-call firefighters.

Do you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station? You could be an on-call firefighter and be paid to protect your community.

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