Fire!

As I drove into High Street Ongar at around 9:00 am I saw this huge plume of smoke. The traffic soon came to a standstill and made way for the approaching fire engine. On the left is housing development Great Stony Park, which used to be Great Stony School. It was originally Hackney Cottage Homes opened in 1905 as a safe environment for deprived children. I got this shot and then the traffic started moving. A man in a van cut across in front of me and shouted angrily at me asking why I was taking his photo. I explained that I was shooting the fire.

When I got to the Ongar property off the other end of the High Street I shot the image in extras, by which time the smoke had turned black. I completed my tasks and when I passed on the way home at 12:30 firefighters on an aerial ladder were still working but the semi-detached family home has sadly been destroyed. As far as I know nobody has been hurt.