Two men were rescued when a blaze ripped through a three-storey block of flats and shops.

The fire broke out in flats in Newgate Street, Walton, yesterday morning.

Two men were rescued and four people, including two children, were led to safety as around 30 firefighters tackled the inferno.

Two crews from Frinton were the first on the scene just before 2am and they were soon joined by two from Clacton.

It was increased to five pumps when a crew from Colchester was also called in and the aerial platform attended from Chelmsford.

The fire was under control just after 3am although firefighters remained on the scene damping down until 9am.

Fire investigators were yesterday sifting through the wreckage of the building in a bid to find out what had caused the fire.

Station Officer Kevin Mossop said it was a severe fire and it was fortunate everyone escaped serious injury.

Mr Mossop said: "Two men were rescued - one from a first floor window and another from a flat roof.

"A woman and two children were also evacuated from a nearby flat but later returned home and another person got out of the building."

June Widdows, who owns the building and the nearby Aquaria Take Away, said she was relieved no-one was seriously hurt. She said there were ten rooms above the shops and most were badly damaged by the fire. Others were water damaged.

"The next job will be to get the place repaired and people back in their homes," she added.

Paul Matten, an artist who lived in one of the ground floor shops, said he had been out at the time of the blaze. He returned around 2.30am to see the fire engines outside his room.

Most of his belongings were water damaged in the incident. He added: "Les and Ray - the two men rescued - were slightly injured but people were mainly shocked."

Mr Mossop said it was believed the blaze started at the back of the building. He added: "There was a lot of work to do in the early stages and it was a difficult job due to the confused layout of the property and the thick smoke."

Acting leading firefighter Stafford Finbow, based at Clacton, said it was the worst blaze their crews had been to this year.

They had been on a call to a small fire at flats above the NatWest Bank in Clacton when they were diverted to Walton.

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