One person has suffered the affects of smoke inhalation after a flat fire.

The fire brigade was called to Maltings Court, Witham, at 2.35am today to find a ground floor flat was heavily smoke logged.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used one hose reel to quickly extinguish the fire and a high pressure fan to clear the property of smoke.

The casualty was left in the care of the ambulance service.

An Essex Fire and Rescue spokesman said: "We have no information relating to the cause of the incident at this stage."