Incident Update @17:45

Our crews left the scene at 3.24pm and the road has reopened. 

Firefighters have been working through the night following a fire at a property in Cressing Road, Braintree. Three crews remain on scene this morning dampening down. Cressing Road is closed between Coggeshall Road and Trotters Field because of the incident so motorists are asked to find alternative routes.

Crews have attended a field fire in Great Burstead, Billericay today. Firefighters were called at 11:31am following calls from the public that a hay field that had recently been cut was on fire.

The fire covered an area of around 200 square metres. Crews used beaters and an off road vehicle to extinguish it and quickly managed to stop it spreading to a neighbouring barley field, a nearby school and industrial area.

It was out by 12.40pm.

Update 21 June 17:15pm

An investigation has been unable to determine the cause of the fire.

Station Manager Lee Hurst, Fire Investigation Officer, said: "We have done everything we can and put in so much effort to get to the bottom of it.

"Unfortunately, because the fire was so intense and due to the damage caused to the buildings, it has been impossible to come to a definitive conclusion.  

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.