FIREFIGHTERS have remained on site at the Port of Tilbury following further fires in grain silos.

A major explosion and fire on Friday was dealt with but fire crews allowed some if the grain stored on site to burn in a controlled way.

However, just before midnight last night (Sunday, 5 July) fires ignited in a number of silos and the incident was escalated to eight crews to establish the location of each fire.

To create a secondary water supply, a further seven crews were called in and worked throughout the night to extinguish the fires in sections.

Crews surrounded and contained the fires and worked to bring the incident back down to a controlled burn.

The incident has been scaled back down to four crews who will remain at the scene to monitor hotspots.

Group Manager Martyn Hare said: "Crews worked tirelessly throughout the night to surround and contain the fires. Due to the complexity of the layout, we requested additional crews to ensure we had a steady water supply and during a multi-agency approach, we have contained the fires to the site.

"There may be some noise some coming the site due to work carried but rest assured crews remain on scene ready to deploy."

This will be a protracted incident with crews remaining at the scene over the coming days working alongside engineers to minimise the impact on the grain site.

The incident is contained within silos at the site and there is no risk to neighbouring sites within the Port of Tilbury.