Firefighters were called to a potentially explosive fire in an aircraft hangar at Southend Airport.

Six fire engines from Southend, Rayleigh, Rochford, Shoebury and Hawkwell were called to the scene following reports that dangerous chemicals were stored inside the hangar, although there were no planes inside.

In addition, a water bowser and aerial ladder platform were summoned from Chelmsford.

A spokesman for Southend Airport said: “Essex Fire and Rescue dealt with an incident at the Air Livery hanger on the north side of the airfield. But the airport remained open and operated as normal”

An hour after emergency services were called, firefighters reported good progress as they used an aerial ladder platform to douse the large building from above.

Social media users reported they could see the fire from as far as Laindon and Burnham-on-Crouch.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We were called to an incident on Aviation Way at 10.47am yesterday.

“Two rapid response vehicles, the Hazardous Area Response Team and an ambulance officer attended.

“Crews were not required at the scene and stood down.”

At 12.40pm the fire had almost completely been extinguished and firefighters were using thermal imaging cameras to find the remaining hot spots which they then dampened down.

A worker from the nearby business park said: “It just went up. There was a load of black smoke, that’s all you could see. Emergency services were here within ten minutes.”

A spokesman from Essex Fire and Rescue said: “A full investigation will be carried out to find the cause of the fire, however at this stage we believe the fire started accidentally.”

Inside the hangar, which is used for aeroplane livery, there were a number of chemical containers that firefighters had to remove from the building to avoid them catching fire.

Nigel Tuckett works in the workshop next door to the hangar and said: “It was just all smoke basically. I smelt something in the workshop, a guy came from next door and told us that we had to get out because there was a fire out the back.

“I came out here and there was just loads of smoke coming from behind the workshop. It’s coming from Cumberland Packaging.

“The building that went up is in the airport, it’s an aeroplane hangar so it’s full of paint and God knows what. It went up quickly and it’s taken the whole back wall out.

“We were saying something really bad must have happened but we didn’t see anything at all.”

Once the fire had been dealt with, crews began to cut away the roof to make sure it had been completely extinguished.

Essex Fire and Rescue confirmed that the firefighters continued working into the evening to ensure the area was safe.