Firefighters were called to a property in Ongar at 9:35am this morning, after sunlight was refracted by a mirror and caused a fire.

On entering the property, firefighters confirmed there was a fire in the lounge and the property was heavily smoke-logged.

Crews worked to extinguish the fire by 10:12am, and cleared the property of smoke.

Watch Manager, Mark Curtis, at Harlow Fire Station, said: “It’s very rare we attend an incident where a fire has been caused by sunlight, but that’s exactly what happened today!

Firefighters were called to the scene of a fire at a care home in Black Notley this evening.

Saffron Walden firefighters, who were responding in the area at the time, arrived at the scene first and confirmed that the entire ground floor of the property was smoke-logged.

Care workers had evacuated 16 residents from the building - and thankfully, no-one was harmed.

Firefighters were called to the scene of a house fire in Langdon Hills (near Basildon) on Tuesday evening.

On arrival, crews reported that the first floor of the building, which is terraced and measures approximately 8 metres by 5 metres, was well alight.

The officer in charge immediately called for the support of an Aerial Ladder Platform, which allows firefighters to spray water from height, to help get the fire under control.

Essex Police officers were also called to the scene to support with a safety cordon to allow firefighting to take place safely.

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Firefighters are praising neighbours who alerted us to a kitchen fire when they heard smoke alarms going off in Newport this afternoon.

Crews from Newport and Saffron Walden were called to a Frambury Lane in Newport just after midday.

On arrival, crews reported a pan left on the hob had caught fire and extinguished it by 12:28pm.

Crew Manager Ollie Ford from Newport Fire Station said: “We’d like to praise the neighbours for calling us to this incident and we’d encourage residents to call us when you hear someone’s smoke alarms going off.

Update 10pm

After working with a local resident using a digger to remove pallets from inside the building, crews extinguished the fire by 9:30pm.

Update 8:45pm

Firefighters are currently at the scene of an outbuilding fire in Theydon Garnon. 

We were called at 7:08pm after reports that a fire could be seen from the M11 and the M25.

Crews have issued safety advice after extinguishing a skip fire in Ongar.

Our Control teams were initially called to a fire in the open in Millbank Avenue yesterday (Sunday) at 9.08pm.

However, they were called again shortly afterwards to say the fire was affecting a house. 

Crew Manager Tom Side said: "The resident was doing some gardening, burning his cuttings and then emptying them into a skip.

"Unfortunately, some of the embers weren't completely extinguished when he put them into the skip and the contents caught fire.

Four crews were called to a garage fire in Runwell earlier today.

On arrival, crews reported that a fire in a garage was spreading to the roof and loft of a house.

Crews wearing Breathing Apparatus entered the loft to prevent the fire from spreading to the rest of the house.

Firefighters worked to extinguish the garage fire by 5:35pm.

The garage and the loft of the house were completely destroyed.

An investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.

Crews were called to a fire in a flat on Sutton Road, Southend last night, when cooking was left unattended and caught alight.

Firefighters were called to a fire in property in Southend at 8:50pm, when a neighbour heard a smoke alarm.

On arrival, crews confirmed that there was a fire in the kitchen, which had been caused by a tray covered in oil which was left on the hob unattended, and the property was heavily smoke-logged.

Firefighters used dry powder to extinguish the fire by 9:09pm.

Firefighters were called to a road traffic collision which happened on St Annes Road in Mountnessing in the early hours of this morning.

On arrival, crews reported that two vehicles were involved in a collision, and three people were trapped.

Firefighters worked quickly to make the area safe, and used specialist equipment to release all three people from their vehicles by 2:05am. A female was left in the care of the Ambulance Service with a suspected broken arm.