A major fire broke out in Stambridge, Rochford, at industrial units on Christmas Eve. At least 60 firefighters were dispatched to the scene to tackle the fire, which was reported to involve a furniture warehouse and a number of other industrial units.
Smoke was seen billowing across a wide area. Fire crews had to request backup firefighter crews multiple times in order to contain the flames.
Firefighters urged residents in the Rochford area to keep their windows closed as the fire is produced a lot of smoke.
Furniture Outlet Stores is one of the businesses that was affected by the fire. A spokesperson for the business said: “The fire started at a neighbouring unit, not our unit. Very sadly several adjoining businesses, including ours have been destroyed through no fault of their own.
“For a disaster of this size to happen at any time of year is terrible, for it to happen on Christmas Eve is worrying for lots of businesses and their staff.”
Passengers on an easyJet plane had a birds-eye view of the, as their flight landed at Southend Airport.
Firefighters from multiple Essex stations attended the incident and used aerial ladder platforms to pour water on the fire from above. They also used a drone to get a live overview of the fire from above.
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service’s Area Manager, Neil Fenwick, said: “When we arrived at the scene we found a well developed fire. The wind was a major factor in how quickly the fire spread, but our firefighters worked really hard to stop the fire spreading to any other units at the site.
“At the height of the fire we had around 80 firefighters helping to extinguish the fire. The building on fire contained a large quantity of furniture, it also had cylinders and chemicals.
“This was a difficult fire so we bought in some our special equipment like our drone and aerial ladder platform to deal with the fire as safely as we can.”
Some photos contributed by ECFRS and Luke B.