A CLOUD of black smoke travelled across Braintree as fire devastated industrial units while people were just waking up.

Boyton Cross Motors and Leader Lifestyle at Springwood Drive, used as vehicle storage and a furniture warehouse, were destroyed by the blaze, which erupted before 5.30am on Saturday.

Firefighters left the site some 14 hours later after checking for remaining hotspots and will revisit several times to confirm the units have cooled.

It took eight fire engines, two aerial ladder platforms and water being sprayed from ground level to control the fire that was extinguished just after 8am.

Bradley Hill, of London Road, described being woken up by a loud cracking noise, which the fire service said were tyres and cylinders exploding.

The 23-year-old said: "Then when I looked out of my window, there was this massive plume of black smoke, almost like a nuclear bomb had gone off.

"It was quite spectacular.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Photo: Bradley Hill

"I think people were a bit apprehensive but the emergency services were already there when we arrived to see what was happening, so you felt secure.

"But once or twice, suddenly, as well as the crackling pop, there was a massive explosion and you'd see sparks go up like a camp fire.

"After that the police began to move people back and shut the road off.

"The heat it was throwing off was quite intense as well."

Roads around the incident had been temporarily closed and nearby residents warned to stay indoors.

Thermal imaging cameras were used to check the fire had not spread to the other two units.

Fenton Russell, 46, and his wife Helen live opposite at Rayne Road and had called 999.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Photo: Keith Long

He said: "There was a smell of smoke at about 3.30am but I didn't think anything of it. Then all of a sudden, we could hear the crackling.

"I think the wind was going in a completely different direction because we couldn't smell the smoke, but as soon as you walked to the roundabout there was this haze in the air and all the ash fell down around us.

"There were probably more than a hundred people watching."

A joint investigation by the fire service and Essex Police will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.

Incident commander, Mark Samuels, said: "Firefighters worked extremely hard to stop this fire from spreading to the other two businesses in this large industrial unit.

"The first fire crews on scene very quickly requested extra fire engines and two aerial ladder platforms to tackle the fire, and through their hard work, we got on top on this incident very quickly.

"Unfortunately, two units have been completely destroyed but we were able to save the other two."