TWO giant piles of rubbish caught fire simultaneously next to a major road this afternoon, Monday, April 10.

Firefighters from across south Essex were called at 1.14pm to a large blaze which could be seen by passing motorists on the A127.

The fire was on land between the Fairglen Interchange (A1245) and the Rayleigh Weir (A129).

When the first fire engine arrived at the incident the firefighters reported there was two large piles of rubbish on fire.

The piles measured approximately 10m by 20m and 20m by 20m and both piles were completely alight.

The officer in charge requested extra fire engines to help extinguish the fires.

Two crews responded from Basildon and one each from Southend and Leigh.

After battling the blaze for more than an hour, the fire crews were able to extinguish the flames by 2:30pm.

The cause of the fire is not known at this time.