Five fire crews are tackling a blaze which has “engulfed” a furniture warehouse in Stanway.
Firefighters from Colchester, Tiptree and Coggeshall are at the incident in Turkey Cock Lane.
Station officer Steve Kirkham, incident commander, said on arrival at around 6am this morning the building was 100% alight.
“Four pumps were made up due to the distance we had to get water and the manpower required,” he said.
“The building is showing signs of collapse so we are doing defensive firefighting.
“We were initially hampered by the electricity supply too and engineers from UK Power Networks were called.
“There will be a presence here throughout the morning turning over and damping down, and we will re-visit this afternoon to make sure all is well.”
The fire is being treated as suspicious and police have established a cordon at the scene.
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