Eight cars were destroyed when an electric vehicle caught fire and the flames spread. Essex Live reported that the blaze started in an EV in the salvage yard just before 9pm on March 13.

Three crews attended and discovered on arrival that eight cars in total were on fire. While electric cars are in general less likely to catch fire than normal petrol versions, if they do they can burn extremely fiercely due to the chemicals in the batteries.

Crews from Rochford, Southend and Leigh attended and worked hard to contain the fire quickly and prevent it from spreading further.

All eight cars were fully destroyed in the blaze. Temporary Watch Manager Steven Gabriel said: “Firefighters have done an excellent job to contain the fire to stop it from spreading to surrounding areas.

“ Unfortunately, although the vehicles have been destroyed, this could very easily have become an even more significant incident without such a professional response from our crews.”

An investigation has been carried out and the cause of the fire was a fault in an electric vehicle.