FIREFIGHTERS were forced to extinguish a blaze in a ground floor flat.

A crew from Manningtree and one from Colchester were called to Stourview Close in Mistley at approximately 6.20pm on Tuesday and found the flat was completely smokelogged.

The officers used a hose reel jet to tackle the fire which started in the kitchen and was extinguished just before 9pm.

They also used a positive pressure ventilation fan to clear smoke from the flat.

An Essex County Fire and Rescue spokesman said: “Incidents like this illustrate just how devastating the consequences of a kitchen fire can be, filling an entire flat with deadly smoke.

“Nobody was hurt in the fire because a smoke alarm sounded warning which prompted the call to ECFRS.”