As Essex heads into another hot and dry weekend, Essex Fire and Rescue Service has issued a plea for everyone to have "fire free fun".

Firefighters, control room staff and support teams across the service have been dealing with a large number of calls and incidents this summer.

Thursday (August 11) was one of the service's busiest 24 hours this summer with 112 incidents, 75 of those being fires.

This is compared to a typical day in Essex, when crews attend about 70 incidents with only seven being fires, 24 false alarms and 39 special services - which are non-fire incidents that require the service's help.

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Area Manager Neil Fenwick said: "We have been busy and are expected to remain so over the weekend.

"Please help our crews, control staff and all the support teams within our service who have been working so hard now for a prolonged period of time.

"You can do this by not having barbecues, bonfires or campfires.

"The current dry conditions mean any fire can spread very quickly. It’s just not worth the risk."

So far this month (as of 11am on August 12) the fire service has dealt with a grand total of 938 incidents.

Of these, 235 were false alarms, 527 were fires, 30 were road traffic collisions, and 146 special services.