FIRE crews raced to a block of flats amid concerns of a fire breaking out.

Four fire engines attended the scene in St James’ Place, which is a block of flats in De Grey Road, Colchester.

Residents said firefighters made their way into the flat by climbing through a fourth floor window at about 9.15pm on Sunday.

Crews were on the scene until about 10pm after a smoke alarm sounded, but there was no fire which caused damage to the address.

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A spokesman explained it was standard protocol for incidents at high-rise buildings is to send four fire engines to deal with the incident.

He said: “We were called to St James’ Place in Colchester at 9.15pm after reports of a smoke alarm sounding on a fourth floor flat.

“We followed standard protocol for fires in high-rise buildings, sending four fire engines to the incident.

“On arrival, crews confirmed an oven had been left on while the occupant was out which had started to smoke and had set the fire alarm off.

“Fortunately, there were no signs of fire and this was a false alarm.”