Harwich fire crews were working through the early hours after Essex County Fire & Rescue Service was called to a warehouse on Stour Road in Harwich at about 03:36 BST. About 35 firefighters were sent to the scene as they tried to bring the blaze under control.
Stour Road in Harwich
The call came in before dawn, and the response grew quickly. Firefighters concentrated on the warehouse on Stour Road while smoke spread enough for people living nearby to be told to keep their windows and doors closed.
That instruction gave nearby residents a direct step to take while crews remained at the scene. The service did not set out a timeline for when the warehouse would be fully secured, so the immediate priority for anyone close by was to limit smoke entering homes.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said it had been receiving multiple calls from concerned people in the Ipswich and Felixstowe area. It also reiterated that the smoke was coming from Harwich, and smoke from the incident could be seen from Ipswich and Felixstowe.
That left two separate groups dealing with the same fire in different ways: crews on Stour Road in Harwich working the warehouse blaze, and people farther away checking whether what they were seeing in the sky was linked to the same incident. The source does not say what caused the fire, and that is the open question hanging over the scene.
