Thatched house in Birdbrook, near Haverhill, badly damaged by fire

A thatched house in Finkle Green, Birdbrook was badly damaged by fire on Sunday.

Eight firefighting crews, including from Haverhill, Clare, Halstead and Saffron Walden tackled the fire, having been alerted shortly after 9am.

On arrival, crews reported the roof was 100 per cent alight and they worked together to remove the thatch and extinguish the fire in sections.

An aerial ladder platform from Colchester was used to help extinguish the fire from above.

Due to a difficult water supply, a water bowser from Halstead was set up to shuttle water to the scene.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze by 1.35pm and it started in a chimney flue of a log burner.

The roof was destroyed and the building suffered extensive fire and smoke damage.

Station manager Scott Fretton said: “Crews worked really hard with limited water supplies to get the fire under control.

“Firefighters worked quickly to remove the thatch from the roof to access the fire and worked to prevent it spreading to neighbouring buildings.”