Neighbours argued furiously in the street as a house fire swept through one floor of a Noak Bridge home during the last hours of 1998.

The police riot van had to be called in to help quell the disturbance, which took place as flames and thick smoke spilled from a child's bedroom of the house in New Waverley Road.

Fire crews from Basildon and Corringham dashed to the three-bedroomed terrace home at around 9.40pm on New Year's Eve after an emergency call.

At first it was thought there might be people still in the house, but all residents were quickly accounted for.

Firemen waded into the home using specialist breathing equipment and also used their aerial ladder to attack the heavy flames through a window.

They took just ten minutes to bring the blaze under control, remaining at the scene for around an hour-and-a-half to carry out investigations.

Station officer Bill Newton, who was one of the officers involved, said: "It was a serious house fire that could have been potentially lethal.

"There were people in the house at the time the fire started but luckily they managed to get out straight away."

Fire investigators, who spent New Year's Day sifting through the gutted home, say they are treating the blaze as being suspicious in origin.

Damage - the gutted bedroom at Noak Bridge

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

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