Smoke covers town after fire at sausage factory

Residents in Essex were urged to stay indoors and keep windows closed yesterday, as thick smoke engulfed a town after a fire at a sausage factory.

Firefighters arrived on the scene just after 5am yesterday, after reports that a fire had broken out on an industrial site on the River Way, Harlow.

By about 7.15am, there were 10 fire engines, with crews from Essex, Herts and London.

Dorottya Spanyik said her husband had been working at Riverway Food in the unit when alarms sounded, adding: “The fire was massive ... you could see and feel the smoke all around Harlow.”

Fire services predicted disruption to traffic in the area “for quite some time”.