Arsonists targeted a building site during a weekend fire.

Firefighters rushed to the incident at the site off Rantree Fold in Basildon last night.

Residents reported large amounts of bad smelling smoke coming from the site due to the incident.

It is thought the fire involved a large amount of electric cables at the site, thought to be a new housing development.

A Fire Service spokesman said: "We were called to a fire in a building site in Rantree Fold in Basildon at 8:15pm on Sunday evening. One crew from Basildon attended and extinguished the fire by 8:38pm. The cause of the fire is believe to have been deliberate."