PART of Basildon Hospital had to be evacuated on Wednesday morning after a small fire broke out in a toilet.

An electrical fault in one of the extractor fans in a toilet which was in the Dermatology ward of the hospital started the fire at about 10am, causing black smoke to pour out into the corridor.

Staff and patients had to be evacuated from the ward while firefighters from Basildon attended the scene.

The crews used a high pressure ventilation fan after putting out the blaze to remove the smoke which had filled the corridor before allowing patients and staff to return to the ward.

Tony Lanni, crew manager of White watch at Basildon, said: “We believe it is was some sort of electrical fault in the fan which had caused the small fire to start.

“There was a lot of smoke outside the toilet, but we managed to put out the fire and get rid of the smoke inside 30 minutes.”

No one was injured during the incident.