22 Nov 2012
As many as 65 Essex firefighters were left tackling an inferno after an incident involving 160,000 litres of oil, 30,000 tonnes of paper and 30,000 litres of diesel.
Crews were dispatched at around 5.15am on Tuesday as flames and thick black smoke emerged from a storage yard in Little Warley, near Brentwood.
A water relay was put in place and firefighters used three jets, two foam branches and a ground monitor to combat the blaze, according to assistant divisional officer Leigh Corke.
Crews from Brentwood, Orsett, Chelmsford, Basildon, Rayleigh Weir and Ingatestone were joined by firefighters from London as the fire service began to dampen the flames.
Divisional officer and incident commander Mark Samuels said on Tuesday: “Firefighters have been aggressively fighting the fire with foam. This is a recycling yard that recycles various types of used oils, hence the intensity of the fire.
“We are in the final stages of tackling the blaze, although we expect to be on the scene for several hours.”
Copyright Press Association 2012