Fire breaks out at soft play centre

Firefighters were called to a fire at the alleyway at the rear of a large soft play centre in Basildon.

When fire crews arrived they reported the fire was quickly developing and had spread inside the building.

Firefighters immediately got into the building and quickly got the fire surrounded.

Watch Manager Mark Blakebrough said:

"Firefighters worked really hard to stop the fire from spreading to the rest of the building and the building next door.

"The soft play centre has suffered damage to the rear of the building and inside the rear stock and boiler rooms, but most of the building was thankfully unaffected.

"Outside, there was a pile of old sofas and furniture which looked like they were waiting to be disposed of. This is where we believe the fire was started.

"The Police are investigating the possibility that this fire could have been started deliberately.

"I would urge anyone that knows how this fire started to report it to FireStoppers. FireStoppers is a completely independent charity that is 100% anonymous."