Firefighters are urging people who smoke to dispose of their cigarettes properly following two fires at a Billericay Nature Reserve over the past few days.

Crews were called to Mill Meadows on Friday at 11.30am and on Sunday evening at around 7pm following reports of small fires there. On Sunday a bench was on fire and has been damaged.

On Friday a quick thinking local resident used a bucket of water and a dog walker used their dogs drinking water on Sunday to stop the fires from spreading. The fires could have been caused either accidentally or deliberately.

Tintin the donkey had quite the adventure today after he got stuck in some mud and was rescued by our firefighters.

Our Animal Rescue Unit from Chelmsford and a crew from Harlow were called to Church Lane in Great Hallingbury at 8.32am to help Tintin get back on his hooves.

Firefighters quickly tackled a fire near the A12 at Stanway this afternoon.

We were called at 2.48pm to 200 metres of grass, trees and hedge that was alight. Colleagues from Essex Police put road closures in place and evacuated nearby businesses as a precaution. 

The fire was out at 3.45pm.

Firefighters have issued safety advice following a fire which damaged a house in South Woodham Ferrers today.

Crews were called to the property in Creekview Road at 2.24pm following concerns that something was smouldering in the guttering of the house and there was the smell of smoke.

They found a small fire which had damaged the guttering and the fascia. It is believed to have been caused by a discarded cigarette that wasn’t fully extinguished.

Firefighters stopped a large field fire in East Tilbury from spreading to Coalhouse Fort, a nearby church and homes this afternoon.

Crews were called to land off Princess Margaret Road at 10.54am to reports of a large field fire. The fire damaged eight hectares of land but was put out thanks to the hard work and efforts of the team at 2.43pm.

Firefighters have continued working hard across the county today. Here are few more, although please note this is not a full list.

Incident Number: 175943

Large Fire in the Open

New Kiln Road, Colchester

Time of call: 12:01 14/08/2022

Attendance: 2 x Colchester, 1 x Clacton, 1 x West Mersea

PHOTOS: Firefighters worked quickly to stop a fire in the open from spreading to homes in Hillyfields, Colchester today.

Crews were called at 12.01pm to 200 metres of grass alight which had spread to hedges and eight gardens.

Update as at 2.45pm on 14/08/2022

Firefighters have returned to the area this morning to dampen down some hotspots.

In attendance at this incident:

2 x Harlow, 1 x Waltham Abbey, 1 x Epping, 1 x Loughton, 1 x Brentwood, 1 x Witham (Incident Command Unit), 1 x Stansted (Off Road Vehicle), 1 x Newport, 1 x Leaden Roding, 1 x Chelmsford, 1 x Corringham (Water Tanker), 2 x USAR, 1 x Thaxted, 1 x Walthamstow (LFB), 1 x Bishop's Stortford (Herts)

Update at 7.45am on 15/08/2022

Attendance at the scene since Saturday.

1 x Rayleigh Weir, 1 x Canvey, 1 x Leigh, 1 x Basildon, 1 x Hawkwell plus Incident Command Unit, 1 x Clacton, 2 x Chelmsford plus Off Road Vehicle, 2 x Southend, 2 x USAR Lexden, 1 x Tiptree, 1 x Grays, 1 x Wickford, 1 x Wennington (LFB), 1 x Billericay Off Road Vehicle, 1 x Weeley, 1 x Braintree, 1 x Burnham Off Road Vehicle, 1 x Stansted Off Road Vehicle, 1 x Great Baddow, 1 x Orsett, 1 x Rochford

Crews left the area at 00.38 today, all remaining hotspots have been dealt with.

Ten fire crews have been dealing with a field fire in Buckingham Hill Road, Linford, this afternoon.

A 200 metre square area of land was affected with firefighters working hard in difficult terrain to stop the spread of the fire.

Station Manager Dan Kirk said: “It was a challenging area to access but once again our firefighters worked incredibly hard and contained the fire. They did a great job.”

Please continue to help our crews by being wildfire aware during this long spell of hot dry weather.

You can help prevent fires and support our firefighters by:

As well as some large field fires across the county yesterday which we had to send lots of resources to, our crews continued to deal with number of smaller fires across Essex as well as attending road traffic incidents and other calls.

They have been working extremely hard in difficult conditions.

Please help them today by: