A HOME suffered 'smoke damage' after crews worked to tackle a "significant fire" in Braintree.

Fire crews from Braintree, Coggeshall, Halstead and Dunmow were called to the incident in Chaucer Crescent, Braintree at 1.19pm on Tuesday afternoon.

On arrival, firefighters confirmed it was a fire on the first floor of a semi-detached property. 

Neighbours initially heard the smoke alarms sounding in the property and called 999. 

Crew manager Paul Brazier said: "When we arrived there was a significant fire in the semi-detached house. 

"Crews worked quickly and professionally to extinguish the fire and stop it from spreading further. 

"Unfortunately the first floor has been significantly smoke damaged, luckily the property is vacant so there isn't any furniture or belongings that were damaged.

"We believe the cause of the fire was an electrical fault in the immersion heater." 

All of the firefighters who responded to this incident were on-call, living within five minutes of the fire station and paid to protect the community.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service is looking for more on-call firefighters to join the team.

A spokesman said: "If you live or work within five minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be an on-call firefighter too."

Find out more about the role and how to apply at essex-fire.gov.uk.