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Watch: Crews fight 'deliberate' fire at reserve

A field fire at a nature reserve that filled the sky with thick black smoke is believed to have been started deliberately, firefighters said.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service was called to Chelmer Blackwater Reserve in Maldon on Monday.

Crews extinguished a hectare (2.4 acres) of grass and said the blaze caused "a lot of smoke".

Habitats at the reserve, also known as the Ironworks Meadow, include reedbeds, water courses and open grassland.

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