FOR the second time this week firefighters have spent the night combating a large blaze on a Thurrock industrial site. Some residents nearby were evacuated from their homes as a precaution and an exclusion zone set up.

Crews were alerted to a blaze at a storage yard off Romford Road in Aveley, just after 9.30 last night (Tuesday, 4 August) and were still at the scene as dawn broke this morning.

The fire involves around 60 containers which it is reported have fireworks in them – while the content of others is unknown.

Six fire engines and a number of specialist fire engines (including a water bowser, hose layer and high volume pump) were called to assist at the scene of the fire.

A safety cordon was quickly established around the incident and Essex Police assisted in evacuating the immediate area.

By 1.30am firefighters at the scene reported that they were using a drone to get an overview of the fire and incident ground. Firefighters are monitoring the fire from a safe distance due to the unknown contents of the containers and the presence of fireworks.

Romford Road was closed to all traffic as a safety precaution.

Firefighters are working to establish additional sources of water from nearby lakes. Firefighters will use specialist high volume pumps and extra hoses will be used to pump the water to the incident ground when required.

By 5am the service reported the size of the fire had significantly reduced. A number of fire engines left the incident though is expected that firefighters will be needed on scene for an extended amount of time. Four crews were still at the scene.

The initial exclusion zone has been reduced and everyone evacuated has returned to their homes.

At 6.30am a service statement said: "Firefighters are making good progress tackling the fire. Fire crews are using a number of hoses to tackle the fire and are in the process of opening each container to extinguish the fire.

"Due to the amount of water now being used on the fire and the opening of containers, local residents may see a temporary increase in the amount of smoke this morning.

"Firefighters are urging everyone to continue to avoid the area while they tackle the fire. It is expected that firefighters will at the scene for the rest of the day."

On scene the incident commander told Thurrock Nub News that crews were now starting to open up some of the containers.

He said: "It's been a long night but we are making progress. We are having to go steadily.

"We are also working with the environment agency and Essex and Suffolk Water to ensure there is minimal impact to the local area as water comes off the site."

You can view our video report from the scene here.

During the early hours local crews were relieved, with teams coming in from as far away as Coggeshall to work on the site. The water bowser bringing in supplies from a hydrant at nearby Romford Road is from Halstead.

At 11.30am another update was given which said: "Firefighters are still working hard to extinguish the fire. Crews are using cutting equipment to get access to the containers which have been affected by the fire. It's important we get into each container to make sure all the contents are full cooled and there are no hot spots.

"At the moment it looks like around 15 containers have been destroyed in the fire. The scaffolding yard has also been destroyed along with a number of vehicles which were parked here.

"This has been a long and difficult incident, but we have had brilliant support from a number of other emergency services and agencies. Our thanks go to the Environment Agency, Water Company, London Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and Essex Police who have all played a part in helping us at this incident."

On Sunday (2 August) evening crews spent the night - and much of the following day dealing with an intense blaze in an industrial yard in Chadwell St Mary where many cars were destroyed.