Ten fire engines and around 50 firefighters have been called to a fire in a disused DIY centre on Hickman Avenue, Highams Park, Chingford.
At the incident's height nearly all of the building was alight and smoke from the fire was visible across London.
Station Manager Les Bowen who is at the scene said: “This has been a challenging incident for firefighters because of both the size of the building and the size of the fire but our crews have worked extremely hard to get it quickly under control. There is a lot of smoke from the fire and we’d advise local residents to keep their doors and windows closed.”
The Brigade was called at 1511 and the fire was under control by 1705. Crews from Chingford, Tottenham, Edmonton, Woodford and Walthamstow fire stations are at the scene. The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.
