A Chelmsford firefighter was injured while tackling a blaze at a Danbury timber yard.

Station officer Clive Bangs, based at Chelmsford, suffered a broken ankle and underwent an operation at Broomfield hospital after the blaze on Tuesday morning.

No-one was injured in the blaze itself which spread through timber stacks and took hold of a 15ft silo containing eight tonnes of sawdust.

Firefighters prevented the fire from spreading and an investigation into its cause continues. The fire is believed to have started at a boiler house in a corner of the 11-acre site off Twitty Fee just before midnight Monday, but it was business as usual later this week say owners Brooks Brothers UK.

A family returned from a trip to find their Meadgate house wrecked in a blaze on Friday evening.

Mrs Fiona Davis-Chapman and her four children, aged six years to 17, have since been placed in a temporary hostel until Chelmsford Borough Council is allowed into the end-terraced house to assess damage.

The cause of the fire, believe to be electrical, was being investigated by Essex Fire and Rescue Service.

Anxious neighbours called the emergency service as flames ripped through the kitchen and up the side of the council-owned property in Whitehouse Crescent.

FIRE DAMAGE: The rear of the council house on the Meadgate estate which caught alight while its tenants were away.

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