A huge fire spread across a seawall and destroyed hundreds of metres of grassland and habitat.

Three fire crews rushed to the incident at land north of Mucking Hall Road, Barling at about 3pm on Friday afternoon.

The blaze was spread by the strong winds on Friday afternoon.

Farmer Phil Burns who owns the land was alerted to the incident and rushed to the scene.

He said: “When I got there, I could see the seawall was well alight. There were flames that were about five-foot-high and lots of smoke. It was moving very fast as the winds were so strong. The piece of land that was on fire measures about 20 metres wide and it spread about 500 metres in the end.

“It is likely to have been caused by a disposable barbecue and there was one there and some empty cans too. It is disappointing that the people there did not check that the barbecue was out and didn’t have any concern for what could have happened. I think people need to be a bit more careful and thoughtful.”

Echo:

Scenes - the charred grassland at the seawall -  pics by Norm Bright from Aerial Videos Russ

An Essex Fire Service spokesperson said: “Firefighters were called to Mucking Hall Lane in Barling to a grass fire at 3:30pm on Friday, July 3.

“On arrival, three crews confirmed that a large amount of grassland was alight and worked to extinguish the fire by 5:45pm. The cause of the fire has been recorded as accidental.”