Police are investigating a blaze which broke out at a block of flats in Vange.
Three homes in Ryedene Place were filled with fumes after a fire in a derelict flat on the ground floor. Crews were called to the scene by the owner of the top floor flat, who had returned to find their home full of smoke.
Station officer Julian Ashley of Basildon fire station, said: "This fire had been smouldering for two or three hours and spread smoke to other properties. We are now looking into the suspicious circumstances of how this fire was started.
"If there had been anyone in or asleep they would have been affected by the smoke and are likely to have died," officer Ashley said.
Published Friday October 11, 2002
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