Brightlingsea firefighters were called out twice in 24 hours to help deal with a huge warehouse blaze in Southend.

The retained crew was one of seven from Essex stations called out to deal with the fire on the Airborne industrial estate, which was reported late on Friday, August 16 and wasn’t finally extinguished until the following Sunday.

What was said to be “escalating fire and smoke” on the Saturday forced firefighters to withdraw from the inside of the warehouse to fight it from outside. Nearby residents and drivers on the nearby A127 were advised to keep windows closed owing to the smoke.

No-one was hurt in the blaze thanks, said the Brightlingsea crew, to good fire alarms – and urged everyone to check their own fire alarms.