ESSEX firefighters have rescued three teenage girls from a tree.

ESSEX firefighters have rescued three teenage girls from a tree.

The fire service said the youngsters appeared to have climbed the tree in Belhus Park, Aveley, near Grays, at about 8pm last night, but then panicked when it came to getting down.

Firefighters pitched a ladder by the tree and led the girls, who were shaken but unhurt, to safety.

The officer in charge of the incident said: “One was slightly hysterical out of fear. But we guided them down safely one by one.”