More than 80 firefighters battled a huge field fire in a South Ockendon field - for six hours.

The 17 crews from throughout Basildon, Rochford and Grays accompanied five London fire brigades to reports of the blaze in a field in Buckles Lane.

The around 100m square fire, located very near to a caravan park broke out at around 3pm.

After three hours of continuous attempts to extinguish the blaze it continued to spread to around half a km square.

At around 7pm, the fire officer said: "Firefighters have done an excellent job to stop the fire spreading to a number of caravans in area affected by fire.

"No properties have been affected."

(Credit: Ryan Blows)

Two hours later, the fire had finally been extinguished, with five crews and two off road vehicles remaining at the scene to ensure the fire was finally gone.

After the incident, Marc Diggory, station manager, said: "Crews have worked extremely well in very tough conditions today. At its worst, the incident was affecting around 1km squared of very dry hedgerow and shrub land and spreading very quickly.

"It's only thanks to the hard work of our skilled firefighters that the fire was controlled before it spread any further, meaning we avoided any injuries or property damage.

"Thanks also to crews from London Fire Brigade for their assistance and to colleagues from Essex Police for their support in in keeping the public safe."