Essex County Fire and Rescue Service offers a 24/7 service to the press. Our incident database is updated on a regular basis by the media team and we have established a hotline - 01376 570 814 - where you will be able to reach us round-the-clock. We do ask that routine check calls are not made between 10pm and 6am, because all items of interest will be posted here as they happen. Please note this is NOT a service for the public and press from outside our local area are asked politely to adhere to these guidelines.
Photographs from incidents may be downloaded for publication. These may be used free of charge by all accredited newspapers and media agencies providing they carry a credit to Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. Breaches of this arrangement will result in an invoice of £70 per image. Our film footage may also be used under similar arrangement.
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Details/ImagesIncident No: 11694
Date: 10-06-2010
Time: 16:41
Details: Fire at block of flats
Address: Gloucester Court, Dock Road, Tilbury
Attendance: 2 x Orsett, 1 x Grays, 1 x Corringham, 2 x Aerial Ladder Platform (1 x Basildon and 1 x Southend)
Firefighters have been called to a two storey block of flats, with reports of a flat on fire.
Update 16:49
Firefighters are tackling the blaze. The block is already partially damaged due to a fire that broke out at the block in April 2010.
Update 17:26
The Incident Commander reports that 50 percent of the block of flats roof is alight and the first floor is smoke logged. Crews are using two hose reels and one jet to extinguish the fire.
Update 19:30
The fire was extinguished by 18:26, the cause of the fire is unknown at this stage, ECFRS and the Police will carry out an investigation.
View Incident Images -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11688
Date: 10-06-2010
Time: 14:55
Details: Horse trapped in fence
Address: Epping New Road, Buckhurst Hill
Attendance: 1 x Loughton, 1 x Harlow
Firefighters were called to a horse trapped in a fence. Crews are used two saws to cut the animal free. A vet was requested to attend the incident. Fire crews had cut the horse free by 15:21 -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11685
Date: 10-06-2010
Time: 14:05
Details: Road traffic collision
Address: M25/A13 Slip Road, London bound
Attendance: 2 x Brentwood, 2 x Grays
Firefighters were called to an RTC involving two cars and a van. One woman was trapped and crews used specialist cutting equipment to cut her free by 14:43. The casualty was placed in the care of the Ambulance Service. -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11681
Date: 10-06-2010
Time: 12:06
Details: Store evacuated after water leak
Address: Superdrug, High Street, Brentwood
Attendance: 1 x Brentwood
Crews have been called to Superdrug after a flooding incident. Firefighters were called after water began seeping through a ceiling in the store from an upstairs flat. At 12:15 hrs, crews report that the shop has been evacuated and that efforts were being made to stem the flow of water. Crews were also working with store staff to salvage stock.
Essex and Suffolk water has been alerted and are en route to the incident to shut off water supplies.
Fire crews had dealt with the incident by 12:53 -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11663
Date: 10-06-2010
Time: 03:19
Details: Fatal bungalow fire
Address: Arnhem Grove, Braintree
Attendance: 2 x Braintree, 1 x Coggeshall
Firefighters were called to a fire in an end of terrace bungalow. Crews wore breathing apparatus, two hose reels and one main jet were used to extinguish the fire by 04:28, one man aged 91 years old died at the incident.
Divisional Officer Julian Ashley said:
"The neighbours woke to and reported hearing an explosion and made the 999 call, the structural damage to the bungalow suggests that there may have been a gas explosion. An investigation by ECFRS and the Police will be carried out this morning to establish this." -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11634
Date: 09-06-2010
Time: 18:55
Details: Fire at scrap metal yard
Address: Manor Way, Grays
Attendance: 4 x Grays, 2 x Orsett, 1 x Corringham
Firefighters have been called to a fire in a scrap metal yard. Approximately five tonnes of scrap metal is on fire. Crews are tackling the blaze using foam, one main jet and one monitor.
Update 20:40
The Incident Commander-Station Officer Daron Driscoll reports:
Firefighters are using two monitors and one hose reel jet, crews are turning over and damping down the fire.
Update 22:00
Fire crews remain at the incident continuing to turn over and damp down with the assistance from the owner of the scrap yard using his crane, which is helping to move any debris to reach any remaining hotspots.
Update 22:37
The fire was extinguished by 22:37, the cause of the fire is unknown at this stage, ECFRS and the Police will carry out an investigation.
Station Officer Daron Driscoll added:
"Crews did an excellent job preventing the fire from spreading, and stopped the fire from reaching several of the portable offices in the yard.
"The owner helped with his crane by moving various items of scrap metal, so that firefighters could extinguish the deep seated areas of fire."
The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage, ECFRS and the police will carry out an investigation. -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 00000
Date: 09-06-2010
Time: 17:10
Details: Fire service takes on county emergency planning role
Address: Emergency planning deal
In a ground-breaking move today it was announced that Essex County Fire and Rescue Service is to take over interim responsibility for emergency planning for the entire County.
In a joint move to save money and combine expertise, ECFRS is to develop a service-level agreement with Essex County Council to take over the running of its existing emergency planning activities and to create a single, consolidated organisation.
The decision to create a powerful partnership operation to mastermind the County’s response to emergency or disaster and to deal with the effective recovery from any such incident is an innovative move and builds on the Fire Service’s lead resilience role in chairing the Essex Resilience Forum.
Chief Fire Officer David Johnson will become the County’s Emergency Planning Officer, leading the existing ECC emergency planning team and ECFRS’ own in-house team in a combined set up that will share exceptional expertise in a critical area of community safety.
Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste, Councillor Tracey Chapman, whose portfolio also covers Emergency Planning, stated: “I welcome the proposal to merge two highly regarded services to bring about improvement in resilience and recovery for the people of Essex.”
The agreement was announced at the annual meeting of Essex Fire Authority at County Hall today (June 9). Councillor Anthony Hedley, who was re-elected as Chairman of the Authority at the same meeting, said: “This is a forward-thinking move that will deliver a more efficient, joined up and pro-active service to our communities while reducing cost to our tax payers at a time when there is serious focus on doing all we can to provide value for money.
“Essex County Council and ECFRS both have diverse and independent expertise in this area and that combined will ensure we are able to do the very best we can in terms of planning for major emergency or disaster in the County and making sure that, should the worst ever happen, Essex can recover from any eventuality with the least possible pain.
“The Fire Service is increasingly playing a more active role in community leadership and this is one area where its experience in responding to emergencies day in, day out can be of wider benefit.”
Chief Fire Officer David Johnson said he was delighted to have secured the new arrangement and looked forward to the challenge of his new role. “This is a great responsibility and a chance for the fire service to demonstrate its capabilities beyond traditional areas of expertise. Like Essex County Council, we have strong internal expertise and have, for some time now, been playing a pivotal role in resilience planning county-wide.
“We have already met with members of the Essex team and they are as positive and excited about this new collaborative arrangement as we are. We look forward to working together in the future.”
Members of Essex Fire Authority were told that the interim arrangement would allow for an assessment of existing arrangements and that a full business case would be developed before any formal adoption of the arrangements took place. -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11605
Date: 09-06-2010
Time: 09:37
Details: Fire at shop
Address: Wenlock Way, Maldon
Attendance: 2 x Maldon
Firefighters were called to a small fire behind the counter in a shop. The shop was closed at the time of the fire and crews extinguished the fire using one hose reel. The incident was dealt with by 10:14 -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11571
Date: 08-06-2010
Time: 19:02
Details: Garage fire
Address: Green Lane, Ardleigh
Attendance: 2 x Colchester
Firefighters were called to a garage on fire. Crews wore breathing apparatus and used two hose reels to extinguish the fire by 19:28. A 62 year old man suffered from smoke inhalation. -
Details/ImagesIncident No: 11515
Date: 08-06-2010
Time: 07:42
Details: Coach on fire
Address: Thremhall Avenue, Stansted Airport
Attendance: 2 x Dunmow, 1 x Stansted, 2 x Airport Fire Service
Firefighters were called to a single decker coach on fire, the coach was 30 percent alight. Crews wearing breathing apparatus used two hose reels to extinguish the fire by 08:18
