A RUBBISH fire was started deliberately in Billericay this afternoon.

The ten-tonne pile of rubbish was 'well alight' when officers arrived in Oak Lane, in Crays Hill, shortly before 5pm.

Two units from Basildon, one from Billericay, two from Brentwood, one from Wickford, and a Chelmsford Water Bowser.

The blaze was extinguished by 5.45pm.

Officers later described the cause of the fire as deliberate.