The fire at a recycling centre on Chequers Lane in Dagenham, RM9 is now under control but crews will remain at the scene for some time damping down any hot-spots that remain.
At the height of the incident, forty fire engines and more than 200 firefighters were at the scene and a large fire a plume of smoke could be seen across London. The whole of a single storey recycling building the size of a football pitch was alight.
London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said:
“We’ve not seen a fire of this size in London for several years and it was certainly a dramatic end to the Olympics for the London Fire Brigade. That said though, we were still able to attend incidents across the capital and the fire cover we provided at the Olympic venues was not affected.
“Fire crews will remain at the scene for as long as necessary and a thorough investigation will begin soon to establish how it started.”
Firefighters from the following fire stations attended the incident; Leytonstone, Kingsland, Chingford, Woodford, Walthamstow, Hainualt, Romford, Hornchurch, Dagenham, Ilford, Barking, East Ham, Plaistow, Deptford, Bow, Homerton, Edmonton, Sidcup, Millwall, Stoke Newington, Leyton and Tottenham.
The Brigade was called at 1315 and the incident was declared under control by 1730.
Ten fire engines are still at the scene and the Brigade will be working with police to keep disruption in the area to a minimum
Incident updates
Follow us on Twitter for incident updates or connect with the London Fire Brigade on our Facebook page.