A fire at a former care home that required 30 firefighters to extinguish was thought to have been deliberately started, according to the Essex Fire and rescue

On Saturday afternoon,  fire crews battled flames on Connaught Avenue in Frinton-on-Sea.

According to the service’s Nick Singleton, firefighters work in “arduous conditions.

Crews, he said, had stopped the fire from spreading throughout the building, but about 40% of it had been destroyed.

According to Essex County Fire and Rescue, intentional fires increased during the summer months.