A CARAVAN was destroyed, and several others damaged, after a fire broke out at Canvey’s Thorney Bay caravan park.

Firefighters rushed to Thorney Bay Road at about 10pm on Saturday night, to reports that a caravan was engulfed by flames.

On arrival, firefighters confirmed that one caravan was completely alight.

Crews battled the blaze for more than half-an-hour in a bid to stop the fire spreading to neighbouring caravans before it was officially extinguished at about 10.45pm.

Pictures from the scene show one caravan that has been completely destroyed, but neighbouring caravans appear to have suffered little to no damage.

Essex Fire were unable to confirm any official cause due to a fault with the “incident system”, but the park has confirmed that the caravan was empty at the time, and that nobody was injured.

Other caravans suffered some “slight burns” but have been largely unaffected, with management branding the fire “an unfortunate accident”.

One resident, who contacted the Echo but asked not to be named, said: “It caused a real commotion on Saturday night. Me and my husband were settling in for the night and just heard all this commotion and people running about outside.

“We came out and people were everywhere and we could see the caravan completely on fire.

“It was over on field four I think, and everyone was really concerned it was going to spread.

“That is always the fear, that if one of these caravans catches fire, the whole caravan park could go up in flames, but it looks like the fire was pretty well contained.

“Well done to the firefighters because it could have been so much worse, and thank god everyone was okay.”

Management at the caravan park failed to respond to the Echo’s request for comment despite.

As a result it is unclear the severity of the damage to neighbouring caravans, and if the owner of the destroyed caravan has been rehomed.

Holly King, of Thorney Bay park, said: “Thankfully nobody has been hurt.

“The fire brigade are still looking into it at this stage so there is not too much we can say. The person who was living in the home was in the process of moving out of the caravan, so it was empty at the time. It was just an unfortunate accident.”