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Firefighters contain huge warehouse fire in west London | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Firefighters are still battling a large warehouse blaze that sent a huge cloud of thick smoke over west London. | |
At its height, London Fire Brigade (LFB) sent 15 appliances to the scene in Shepherds Bush. | |
Although the fire has now been contained, unstable gas cylinders have been found which need to be made safe. | |
White City Tube station and Wood Lane remain closed after being shut shortly after the blaze started at 09:35 GMT. | |
'Worst kind' | |
About half of the the large warehouse - which measures 170m by 90m (557ft by 295ft) - has been destroyed in the fire. | |
Station manager Rod Horton, who is at the scene, said throughout the blaze officers had suspected gas cylinders were in the building. | |
A safety cordon was put up around Wood Lane as a precaution. | |
He said: "Unfortunately they are the worst kind, acetylene, a very unstable substance, which remains unstable for some time particularly once heated." | |
He added that thermal imagining cameras were being used to measure the core temperatures of the cylinders and a combination of water and the ambient temperature were cooling them. | |
'Challenging incident' | 'Challenging incident' |
He said that it was now a "10-pump incident" and would be scaled down to six fire engines. | |
Earlier he described the scene as "challenging" and affecting a range of industrial buildings. | |
An ambulance and a hazardous area response team were sent but London Ambulance Service said no-one had been reported hurt. | |
More than 100 people were evacuated from the complex, according to a local petrol station worker. | |
Rashid Ansari, 23, a sales assistant at Esso petrol station in Wood Lane, said: "The fire took place around the back of the Unigate factory. A lot of people work there... they have closed the road and not a single person is allowed down here. There is lots of thick, dark smoke." | |
'Traffic chaos' | 'Traffic chaos' |
A Transport for London (TfL) spokesman said: "Buses are currently on diversion and TfL is working to divert traffic away from the area and minimise any disruption caused by this incident." | A Transport for London (TfL) spokesman said: "Buses are currently on diversion and TfL is working to divert traffic away from the area and minimise any disruption caused by this incident." |
Train services have also been disrupted. | Train services have also been disrupted. |
Eyewitness Guy Ramshaw said: "We were on the A40, driving up from Earl's Court when we saw the smoke. | Eyewitness Guy Ramshaw said: "We were on the A40, driving up from Earl's Court when we saw the smoke. |
"They had shut the Westway so there was no A40 going out of the city from Paddington. It was causing chaos with the traffic." | "They had shut the Westway so there was no A40 going out of the city from Paddington. It was causing chaos with the traffic." |
Earlier, people were evacuated from the nearby BBC White City complex, but a BBC spokeswoman said it was due to an "unrelated issue" and no BBC buildings were affected. | |
The warehouses used to be owned by Unigate which was taken over by Dairycrest in 2002. | The warehouses used to be owned by Unigate which was taken over by Dairycrest in 2002. |
A spokeswoman for Dairycrest said she did not know who bought the warehouses. | A spokeswoman for Dairycrest said she did not know who bought the warehouses. |
The cause of the blaze is not yet known. | The cause of the blaze is not yet known. |