A fire broke out at a block of flats on Saturday night next door to an Essex wine bar which sustained serious damage in a blaze on Friday.

East Anglian Daily Times: Firefighters quickly surrounded the flames at Whispers wine bar to prevent the flames spreading to other buildings. Picture: KATIE BUCHANAN BELSEYFirefighters quickly surrounded the flames at Whispers wine bar to prevent the flames spreading to other buildings. Picture: KATIE BUCHANAN BELSEY (Image: Archant)

Crews from four fire engines spent two hours tackling the flames in the roof of the three-storey building in High Street, Halstead.

It comes just a day after seven fire engines spent most of Friday trying to contain a fire at Whispers wine bar, also in the High Street. The wine bar suffered severe damage to the first floor, water damage to the ground floor, and the roof was destroyed. The fire was reported at 11.18am. Crews damped down remaining hot spots and left the scene at 6pm.

On Saturday, a fire in the roof at a neighbouring three-storey block of flats was reported at 8pm.

Four fire engines attended and the fire had been brought under control and extinguished by 10pm.

Station Manager Lee Palfreyman said: “It is thought that the fire reignited due to hot spots which were covered up by a large amount of debris and were not detectable with thermal imaging equipment.

“It is rare for this to happen, but the complexity of the structure of the building, voids and wall cavities meant that the hot spots were undetectable.”