AS the FBU national strike moves into its fourth hour, working Essex crews have attended nine incidents.

At 13:46 hrs, two appliances attended a kitchen fire in a ground floor flat in Long Banks, Harlow (incident 7340).

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used one hose reel and had extinguished the fire by 14:19 hrs. An Ambulance was called for a 55-year-old woman suffering slight smoke inhalation. The cause of the incident was recorded as accidental.

Other calls have included a child accidentally locked in a car and released by working crews and a small fire in an electric box.