Staff and customers rushed out of a Braintree sandwich shop after a grill caught fire.
Firefighters were called to CD’s Sandwiches and Salads, in Sandpit Lane, at about 1pm on Monday after a sandwich grill caught alight, billowing thick black smoke through the shop.
They brought the grill out of the shop and put out the fire.
Owner Kate Bull, 42, said: “I said that I could smell electric burning and one of the customers said that the grill was on fire underneath.
“It started smoking and it scorched the wall.
“I got a fire blanket out from the back and put it over the grill and tried to contain the smoke but it was just billowing out.
“We all ran out of the shop straight away.”
She added: “I was quite calm but I got somebody else to call 999 because I was too scared.”
She closed the shop for the day and ordered a new grill immediately.
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