FIREFIGHTERS battled a dramatic blaze at a former care home after it went up in flames during the early hours.

Emergency crews were called to reports of smoke in Parsons Hill, Great Bromley, shortly before 5am today (Friday).

On arrival, they found a large building, understood to be Hamilton Lodge, was on fire and called for extra assistance.

Hamilton Lodge closed in 2017 due to extensive repair bills for its buildings, which were declared unfit for purpose.

Gazette: Derelict - Hamilton Lodge has been derelict since 2017Derelict - Hamilton Lodge has been derelict since 2017 (Image: Tendring Council)

An Essex County Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said crews were “making steady progress” at extinguishing the fire from the ground on Friday morning.

An aerial ladder platform unit from Colchester was also deployed to tackle the flames from above.

The spokesman said: ““A water supply has been set up with a water bowser from Halstead which means we've been able to scale the incident down to two crews, an ALP and the water bowser.

“We expect to remain on scene for several hours while we extinguish this fire.”

Gazette: Incident - emergency crews were called to Parsons Hill shortly before 5amIncident - emergency crews were called to Parsons Hill shortly before 5am (Image: ALAN CRAWFORD)

An update shared by the fire brigade at 3pm on Friday added: “Two crews have been at the scene throughout the day working to extinguish remaining hotspots.

“We will continue dampening down and monitoring the scene.”

The efforts were led by firefighters from Colchester, Weeley, Clacton and Halstead who surrounded the fire and worked throughout the day to extinguish it.

Hamilton Lodge operated as a care home for 78 years from 1948, caring for people with learning and physical disabilities.

The site lay vacant following its closure in 2017 but developer Elemento Group has since secured planning permission to turn it into a housing estate.

Tendring Council gave the developer the green light to build 67 properties on the land in autumn last year.

Elemento has been able to get spades in the ground after being loaned £7.6 million to build the first 12 homes by Blackfinch Property.

At the time, John Hartigan, senior investment manager, said: “This is an exciting residential development that will bring back into use derelict buildings and land that will serve to benefit the local community of Great Bromley.”