Firefighters rescued a cat from a roof in Colchester earlier today.

Crews were called by the RSPCA to Heatley Way in Colchester at 10:50am where Shadow the curious cat had climbed to the top of a roof and had been stuck overnight.

Crews from Colchester Fire Station used their Aerial Ladder Platform to rescue the 8-month-old cat and bring it back down to safety.

The cat was unharmed and left in the care of its owner.

Firefighters rescued a woman following a road traffic collision involving three cars in Basildon. 

Crews from Basildon and Hawkwell attended Whitmore Way today at 2.22pm.

They reported that a woman was trapped and rescued her by 3.20pm. She was conscious and breathing and left in the care of the Ambulance Service.

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Hawkwell's on-call firefighters live or work within 5 minutes of the station and are paid to protect their community.

Firefighters were called to a fire in Harlow this morning, when a candle caused a bin to set alight in a fourth-storey flat.

Automatic smoke alarms alerted crews to a fire in a block of flats on Edinburgh way at 10:23am. On arrival, firefighters confirmed that the fire was caused by a candle which had been extinguished but had not cooled down before it was discarded into a bin.

Fire crews were called to a block of flats this evening after a resident called 999 to report a fire in a neighbouring flat. 

On arrival, firefighters reported that there was a fire in a ground floor flat that was spreading quickly. 

Watch Manager Scott Ford, Southend Fire Station, said:

"We implemented the building's stay-put policy which meant other residents could stay safely in their homes rather than coming out into the shared hallway which was heavily smoke logged. 

A family has suffered a lucky escape thanks to working smoke alarms. 

Crews were called to a house in Buckhurst Hill after a father was woken by his smoke alarm and discovered a fire in his child's bedroom. 

The father saw that an electric fan has caught alight and managed to turn it off and throw it out of the window before calling 999. 

Watch Manager Marc Lemon, Loughton Fire Station, said:

"There's no doubt the smoke alarms saved this child's life.

Firefighters were called to an outbuilding fire in Great Totham this evening.

Our Control room received numerous calls about a fire in an outbuilding in Rookery Lane.

Four crews, from Tiptree, Witham, Great Totham and Maldon, attended.

On arrival, firefighters confirmed that an outbuilding, measuring 10m x 8m, was completely alight. 

Despite water supply issues, crews worked hard to extinguish the fire by 11:01pm.

An investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the fire.

Firefighters were called to a kitchen fire last night after food was left cooking while no-one was home.

Crews were called to a property in Caister Drive, Basildon at 10:16pm, when a neighbour heard a fire alarm in a property across the road.

On arrival, firefighters confirmed that a second floor flat was completely smoke logged after food had been left in the oven.

Firefighters cleared the smoke by 10:43pm.

More than half of accidental fires at home are started by cooking - follow our cooking safety advice to stay safe in your kitchen.

On-call firefighters from Witham worked with the electricity board to help restore power to houses in Witham after a tree fell onto a power line last night.

Two crews from Witham were called to Powers Hall End at 9:17pm after a tree had fallen across the road and onto a power line.

Firefighter Nicola Roe from Witham Fire Station said: “Our first priority was to isolate the power as the tree had fallen onto the power line and was leaning against a house.

Following a Met Office amber weather warning, our teams dealt with over 100 weather related incidents last night and into the early hours of this morning.

Many of the calls have required our attendance to lead passengers to safety after their vehicles became stuck in deep water. We also attended several incidents of internal flooding, particularly in homes in the south of the county. Our control team have worked hard to provide advice to many members of the public who called to report flooding outside of their homes.