Four lorries and 10 skips badly damaged in fire

Four lorries and 10 skips were damaged in a blaze at an industrial unit, the fire service has said.

Crews were called to Vange Park Road, Basildon, at about 14:20 BST on Monday. With the help of local businesses, they moved some of the skips using plant machinery to put out the fires inside them.

Station manager Jason Gould, from the Essex Fire Service, said: "Crews worked hard to prevent the fire spreading toward residential properties battling against the wind today [Monday]."

He thanked staff at two businesses for "helping us throughout this incident".

People living nearby were urged to keep windows and doors closed.

Firefighters from Basildon, Brentwood and Canvey went to the unit. They were joined by crews from Grays, Rayleigh and Southend.

Bells Hill Road was closed and other roads were also affected. They have now reopened.

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