A fire in a four-storey building has left three families homeless.

Fire crews were called to the blaze in Queen’s Road, Buckhurst Hill, at 3.33pm on Sunday, January 17.

The building, home to a restaurant, offices and flats, was on fire and was billowing large amounts of smoke, creating difficult conditions for firefighters from Loughton, Waltham Abbey, and Grays fire stations.

Station Manager Dave Bond said: "Firefighters entered the building to locate the fire and worked in arduous conditions to stop it from spreading.

"The complex layout of the building made it even more difficult because the fire travelled through voids over four floors.

"Crews worked reallly hard together to locate, tackle and bring the fire under control and stop this incident from escalating."

The fire was completely extinguished just before 8pm and relief crews, from Grays, Basildon and Chelmsford, took over the monitor hotspots.

Three families have had to move out temporarily while the damage to their homes is assessed.

An investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.