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Crews tackle warehouse blaze in early hours

Neve Gordon-Farleigh
News imageEssex Fire and Rescue Service Orange flames coming off a warehouse on fire in Stour Road in Harwich. A plume of smoke is coming from the building and spreading into the sky. The warehouse has a faded Mercedes-Benz logo on its side.Essex Fire and Rescue Service
The warehouse is believed to be full of cardboard boxes, forklifts and labelling machines

More than 30 firefighters have been sent to a warehouse that has been burning since the early hours of the morning.

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service was called to the A120/Stour Road in Harwich at about 03:36 BST with about seven crews were in attendance.

As a lot of smoke was coming from the Premier Labellers building and people living nearby were being advised to keep their windows and doors shut.

Howard Midwood, fire station manager, said: "Crews continue to work hard to extinguish the fire. There has been a complete collapse of the main structure of the building."

News imageRichard Knights/BBC A warehouse by Stour Road in Harwich, Essex. The fire service has been at the scene of the blaze overnight and while no flames are coming off the building there is a large plume of dark smoke coming from the roof. Aerial ladders are being used to help put out the flames. The roof of the building has been damaged and is charred.Richard Knights/BBC
The warehouse is next to Bathside Bay, and smoke from the incident could be seen from Ipswich and Felixstowe
News imageRichard Knights/BBC A nearby road to a warehouse which is on fire. The road has been closed by police and within the cordon is a fire engine. Two fire fighters are walking towards the back of the fire engine which is parked on the road.Richard Knights/BBC
In an update at 10:30 the service said the fire was under control and it could start scaling back resources

On social media, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said it had also been receiving multiple calls from concerned people in the Ipswich and Felixstowe area, on the other side of the River Orwell estuary, but it reiterated the smoke was coming from Harwich.

The fire service said there has been no need to evacuate properties in Harwich as smoke was rising straight up.

The blaze is said to have been burning since 01:00 at Premier Labellers, which is a self-adhesive labelling machinery company.

It is believed the warehouse was full of cardboard boxes, forklifts and labelling machines.

News imageGeorgie Collins Orange flames are trailing into the sky from a warehouse fire in Harwich, Essex. Followed by the flames is a plume of dark smoke rising up into the sky. Georgie Collins
The fire service said due to the smoke rising upwards there was no need to evacuate nearby residents

In an update at 10:30, the service said the fire was under control and it would be scaling back resources at the site.

Midwood said: "We are working closely with partners and local authorities to bring the incident to a safe conclusion and reopen the road networks as quickly as we can.

"There is no fire safety risk to nearby residents, but the smoke plume will still be visible throughout the day. We'd like to thank everyone for their patience."

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