Fire

The blaze at Elms Farm Allotments in Stansted appears to have been an isolated incident with no evidence of arson.

After predictions hit a peak of £16.4m last September, officers subsequently revised their forecast to an overspend of £13.4m by the end of March.

The wooden structure at the Elms Farm site in Stansted was razed to the ground over the weekend.

A number of the 29 buildings were constructed in the 1950s and still include areas designed for a workforce that was exclusively male.

The 13 men and six women are ‘firefighters in development’ as they continue training at Herts stations, working towards becoming fully qualified.

During the passing out ceremony, the recruits demonstrated their skills by tackling a simulated house fire and a road traffic collision.

There were Christmas stalls, face painting, a food cart and a road safety demonstration, but children loved the chance to climb aboard a fire engine.

Andrew Thorne, 26, of Great Chesterford, started fires in wheelie bins, dog waste bins and at bus shelters around Saffron Walden.

The emergency service’s latest recruits will continue their training at Dunmow, Braintree, Brentwood, Hawkwell and Manningtree fire stations.

The 12-year-old Lab became the 42nd recipient of the PDSA Order of Merit for his devotion to duty in a career in which he attended over 500 incidents.

Neil Byford – whose father, uncle and brother were also in the fire service – started his career in November 1980 at Newport fire station.

The Axe and Compasses at Arkesden has undergone a £1.6m revamp after the grade II listed building was destroyed in last year’s blaze.

When fire crews arrived the building at Horseshoe Farm West, near Harlow, was 100% smoke logged and there was a fire on the first and second floors.

The station open day on Saturday September 23 will offer visitors the chance to look around and inside a fire engine and learn safety advice.

Firefighters, police and ambulance crews descended on Dunmow Road, Hatfield Broad Oak, after heating oil leaked from a boiler.

Firefighters at the Station Road station used a cooking oil fire demo to show the dangers of distraction and of not having a working fire alarm.

A fire service probe into a blaze that ripped through a two-storey semi on the Forest Hall Park has been unable to establish how it started.

The HGV was travelling north when it hit the central reservation barriers and overturned just north of the junction 8 exit slip road.

The roof of the two-storey, semi-detached house on the Forest Hall Park estate collapsed as flames ripped through the first floor.

Four fire engines were sent to tackle the blaze in a second-floor bedroom of a flat above Koko in Nails Lane, off South Street, on Saturday night.