Firefighters were called last night to tackle a blaze at an empty and boarded-up flat in Ipswich.

Two crews from Princes Street attended the incident at 7.45pm in London Road, near Burlington Baptist Church, after a series of 999 calls were received.

Police were also alerted and officers attended to keep a crowd of onlookers away from the incident and create a safety cordon.

Four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used two hose reel jets to extinguish the fire in the ground floor flat and a communal area outside the flat. There was damage to a door and some bedding which had been left outside the property, and also smoke damage inside.

The fire was out by 8.20pm and officers used a thermal imaging camera to check for any remaining hotspots, before ventilating the flat.

A police spokesman said the owner of the flat had been contacted and told about the incident, and UK Power Networks had been asked to attend to check the electricity supply was safe.