Industrial building fire

Update at 10pm:

We are now scaling back the incident from 12 appliances at the scene to six, plus two aerial ladder platforms. 

Group Manager Ben Turner said: "We will be here overnight and carry on tomorrow morning in the daylight. Thank you to the public for their support and patience, our partners who have been working with us and the neighbouring businesses on the industrial estate who have offered their facilities to our firefighters.

"Crews have worked incredibly hard this evening as well as our control room colleagues who have been dealing with a large number of calls."

Update at 8.30pm:

Incident commander Group Manager Ben Turner said: "The fire has affected two premises, we have approx 90 firefighters dealing with the incident and it is generating a lot of smoke. There's a railway line that runs nearby and we are making sure that we are protecting the surrounding risk and working with our partner agencies to keep our community safe.

"We anticipate being here throughout the night and when it is safe to do so we will carry out a fire investigation with the police to make sure we understand the cause of the fire."

Video on our social media: https://www.facebook.com/ECFRS/videos/1475352990337823

Update at 6.45pm:

This is a fire in an industrial building measuring 80 metres by 50 metres. Our firefighters have surrounded the fire and we are being supported at the scene by UK Power Networks.

The building is on an industrial estate and because we have multiple crews and equipment at the scene, Eastways is closed. 

Thanks to everyone for their patience and support whilst we deal with this incident. There is a lot of smoke so please do keep windows and doors closed if you are nearby.

Crews are dealing with a fire at an industrial building in Eastways, Witham.

We were called at 4.42pm and have multiple crews in attendance. We'll be at the scene well into the evening.

Please avoid the area if you can and keep your doors and windows closed if you live nearby.