AN early morning blaze has destroyed several outbuildings at the Orsett Hall Hotel on Prince Charles Avenue.

Firefighters were alerted to the incident at 5am today (Monday, 31 July).

On arrival, crews - two crews from Grays, a crew from Orsett and a crew from Basildon - reported that an outbuilding being used as a laundry room was on fire and spreading to an adjoining outbuilding.

Due to a limited water supply, crews requested a further two crews from Basildon and Corringham. Crews also requested an aerial ladder platform from Chelmsford.

Firefighters worked to surround the fire and prevent it spreading to further adjoining buildings. 

Crews have extinguished the fire and are using the ladder platform to remove roof tiles from the outbuildings to monitor hotspots. 

The laundry room has been destroyed and the adjoining outbuilding has been left badly fire and smoke damaged.

An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out. 

Station Manager Scott Fretton, Incident Commander, said: "We expect to be here for a couple of hours to monitor the hotspots and see what caused this fire. 

"Initial crews acted quickly to establish a water supply which was challenging at first. Crews worked really hard to contain the fire and prevent it spreading further into other outbuildings."