ESSEX Police charged a man yesterday with of starting two fires that investigators said could have killed dozens of people.

Firefighters were called to two blazes in the seaside town of Westcliff on Sunday night and early Monday morning believed to have been deliberately started close to gas pipes supplying blocks of flats.

Only quick action by the emergency services prevented the residents of 15 apartments being engulfed by a towering inferno after a pile of traffic cones was set alight over a propane gas cylinder and mains pipe.

Firefighters said the blaze had been started under the stairs and had blocked the only exit.

The cylinder “could have exploded at any moment,” they added.

Essex Police charged Sam Brown, 26, of no fixed address, with arson with intent to endanger life.