SOME 30 people have been left homeless after a fire raged in a block of flats in the early hours.
Three crews from Chelmsford and one from Great Baddow were called to Harberd Tye in Great Baddow, Chelmsford at 1.55am.
The blaze took hold in the top floor and roof space of the three-storey housing association block, setting them completely alight.
James Shilingis, who lives opposite the flats, said: "I was awoken to screams and breaking sounds.
"I ran outside to start knocking on doors and getting everyone out of the adjacent buildings."
Crews took nearly three hours to put the blaze out using one main jet, one hose reel jet and an aerial ladder platform to tackle the fire.
All 30 people who lived in the block have been accounted for and the Red Cross were called to help a number of people who were left homeless as a result.
Chelmsford Sub-officer Syd Barrett said: "When crews arrived there was a well developed fire in the roof void of the block which had broken through the roof of the building.
"The fire did not spread to an adjacent block.
"We made sure the entire building had been evacuated, in all around 30 people safely escaped the building, none of them will be able to return because of the damage caused by this fire.
"We were hampered by a poor water supply but were able to use the aerial ladder platform to good effect to douse the fire from above.
We had it under control by around 3.30am and continued using the aerial ladder platform to dampen it down and extinguish the fire for around another hour-and-a-half."
An investigation will take place to establish the cause of the fire.
