A fire described as the biggest in London for ‘several years’ sent smoke across East London yesterday and briefly threatened to overshadow the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
The fire at a recycling centre in Dagenham was reported at 1315 on Sunday afternoon and at its height there were over 200 firefighters and 40 appliances at the scene.
A plume of smoke could be seen across London, but the wind carried it away from the Olympic Park, settling initial fears that it could affect the London 2012 Closing Ceremony in Stratford.
The fire engulfed the whole recycling centre: a single storey building around the size of a football pitch.
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.”
London Fire Brigade officers have spent much of the past fortnight on the Olympic Park providing fire cover for the Olympic Games in specially designed rapid response Minis.
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