Fire tears through industrial unit in area with ‘limited water supply’

Firefighters have been tackling a blaze in Essex with ‘limited water supplies’ after flames engulfed an industrial unit.

A massive fire broke out at the site housing industrial units, vehicles and mobile homes in Nine Ashes, northeast of Epping.

Twelve crews descended on the site on Woolmongers Lane shortly after 11pm yesterday as the alarm was raised.

Dramatic footage shows one of the barns going up in flames as the fire raged inside it, appearing to contain farming or industrial cylinders.

Residents are urged to keep windows and doors shut today as smoke continues to billow into the air and the surrounding areas.

Some cylinders could also explode as they burn, causing loud bangs, the firefighters warned.

Station Manager Scott Fretton, from Essex Fire and Rescue Service, said: ‘Crews have worked really hard with a limited water supply to surround the fire and we’re now in a position to start scaling this incident down. We’ll scale it down to eight crews initially and we anticipate being here for several hours.

‘You might see lots of smoke as it starts to get lighter throughout the morning and hear some bangs coming from the scene as there are cylinders involved.

‘If you live in High Ongar near Woolmonger Lane, please keep your windows and doors shut.’

Crews in the area face gruelling weather conditions today as the sun rises, with temperatures expected to climb to 30C in Chipping Ongar.

By 9am, mercury is set to hit 25C.

A week-long heatwave has been gripping Essex, London and the South East, with no significant rainfall forecast for at least another week before the weather turns cooler and thundery.

It comes after a huge fire broke out at an old Debenhams building in Edinburgh yesterday morning.

The iconic Victorian building was gutted in the blaze, which ripped through the roof and top floors, while the rest of the building was black and charred.

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