Two people had to be evacuated from their Tilbury home after fire broke out in the flat below in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Crews from Orsett and Grays went to Cowper Avenue, where the blaze had broken out in an empty ground floor flat.
A spokesman for the Essex Fire and Rescue Service at Orsett said: "Furniture had been spread around the outside of the flat and some of it was alight. We put out the fire and soaked the rest."
But he added that at 4.20am they were called back. A bed inside the flat had caught alight and smoke had filled the flat. The couple upstairs had their windows open because of the warm weather and smoke had got into their home.
The spokesman added: "We are treating the fire as suspicious."
Published Tuesday August 20, 2002
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