Firefighters spent almost three hours tackling a blaze in a derelict building yesterday.

Colchester's Red Watch fought the inferno at the former Severalls hospital site. The blaze broke out just after 5.30pm.

Three fire engines and an aerial ladder platform were used to get the fire, in Boxted Road, under control. A brigade spokesman said the roof of the two-storey building had collapsed in the intense heat. Experts were trying to discover the cause of the blaze.