A warehouse has been completely destroyed after a huge blaze ripped through the building late last night.

Just after midnight, more than one hundred firefighters rushed to the scene.

Fifteen fire engines and a number of specialist appliances were sent to the large fire at a packaging and distribution warehouse near Festival Leisure in Basildon.

By 2am, around 100 firefighters were still at the scene working hard to tackle the blaze.

Three hours later, the firefighters were still working hard to extinguish the flames, but the fire service reduced the number of fire crews to eight.

The officer in charge, Neil Fenwick, said: "When we first arrived, firefighters immediately requested extra engines to help deal with this rapidlly growing fire.

"The warehouse, which we believe is used for packaging and distribution, contained a large amount of stock and the fire took hold very quickly.

Echo:

"Firefighters have done an absolutely brilliant job here this morning.

"They spotted the fire had started to spread to the large warehouse next door and managed to extinguish the fire very quickly and stopped the fire spreading.

"Fire crews had the fire surrounded and under control very quickly. It is thanks to their hard work that the fire has been contained to the one warehouse.

"Firefighters will remain at the scene for some time extinguishing the fire and checking for hot spots."

Firefighters are making good progress. The incident has been scaled back to four fire engines and two aerial ladder platforms. The whole warehouse has been destroyed.

Crews will remain at the scene until the whole warehouse has been completedly cooled and checked to ensure the area is safe.

A fire investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.