A fire has set buildings alight on London Road in Baldock industrial estate this evening (Tuesday, July 11).

Firefighters from Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service raced to the scene after being called at 6.15pm, and remained at the fire as of 10.30pm. They have declared it a "major incident".

A spokesperson for the service said that the "large fire" involves "multiple business units", and it "has rapidly developed into a large scale incident requiring the mobilisation of multiple fire and rescue resources".

The Comet: Herts Fire & Rescue Service, Herts police, and the East of England Ambulance Service have all attended the scene. Herts Fire & Rescue Service, Herts police, and the East of England Ambulance Service have all attended the scene. (Image: Taysa Almeida)

These include 15 fire fighting appliances, two aerial ladder platforms, a high volume pump, an aerial drone, a command and control unit, an incident support unit, and 11 flexi-duty officers.

The Comet: Heavy smoke is visible at the scene of the fire.Heavy smoke is visible at the scene of the fire. (Image: Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service)

Herts police have also attended the scene and implemented road closures in the area. They are advising residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed due to the smoke.

Photos on social media showed that Baldock Tyre Exhaust & MOT Centre was particularly badly affected.

Residents of Page Close, Hillcrest, Chilvers Bank and Beechwood Close have reported on social media that they currently have no access to water, while some homes have also been affected by power cuts.

The Comet: Herts Fire and Rescue Service has declared the fire to be a major incident.Herts Fire and Rescue Service has declared the fire to be a major incident. (Image: Taysa Almeida)

As of 11.15pm on July 11, 31 addresses with postcodes beginning SG7 6 had no power, with an estimated time for power to be restored yet to be confirmed.

A statement on the UK Power Networks website reads: "We've had to turn off power in your area so our engineers can safely carry out emergency repairs to the network".

Area Commander Andy Esson from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “This is a large incident, and we are working hard to contain and extinguish the fire.

The Comet: Smoke is visible from a distance.Smoke is visible from a distance. (Image: Simon Watts)

"We are asking people living nearby to keep their windows closed due to the large amount of smoke, and we would ask that people avoid the area while our crews deal with the incident.”

We will provide further details from the emergency services when we have them.