A man has died and a toddler was rescued after in a house fire in Clacton.
Neighbours in Stanley Road raised the alarm at around 10.30am today after flames were spotted leaping from the terraced property.
They managed to smash a bedroom window, rescuing a woman and the small child from the building before firefighters arrived at the scene.
Four fire engines were eventually dispatched to tackle the blaze, which damaged the entire ground floor and much of the first floor.
Assistant Divisional Officer Paul Nash, incident commander, said: "When crews arrived at the scene, they were faced with a severe fire on both ground and first floor.
They had to work in punishing conditions, mainly inside as it was a mid terraced property to make a search of the building for the man believed to be missing inside and to fight the fire itself.
"Fortunately neighbours were able to get onto a flat roof to smash a bedroom window to bring a woman and small child out of the building before we got here."
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are using two hose reels to tackle a blaze in a terraced house.
Police and the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service have now started an investigation to establish the cause of the incident.
