A POLICE and fire investigation has been launched after a huge blaze devastated a warehouse.

Firefighters battled flames at a storage unit at Fanton Hall Farm in Wickford for more than 12 hours after a fire broke out shortly before 4pm on Monday.

The roof collapsed at around 10pm and the fire was contained by crews at around 2.30am and remained at the scene on Tuesday morning as the fire continued to burn.

Horses, lorries and tractors were quickly moved away from the burning building as firefighters tried to find a water supply.

Incident Commander Craig McLellan said: "When we got to the incident the building was 100% alight.

“The roof of the building collapsed inwards, and we continued to use main line jets to protect the surrounding buildings. We will continue to monitor the fire closely, but it is expected that this fire will continue to burn under control for some hours."

Firefighters were forced to use a nearby lake and tackle the fire from both sides of the burning building as well as using an aerial ladder to put water on the fire from above.

A joint fire and police investigation will take place to establish the cause of the fire.

It’s believed the unit was used for storage for KMS Distributions. Nobody was in there at the time of the blaze.

The import company KMS Direct and KMS Distributions specialises in home and garden equipment. It sells through its own website and on eBay.