DAGENHAM FIRE: Freshwater fire under control and everyone accounted for.

The latest update from the London Fire Brigade is that all those in the Freshwater Road flats have been accounted for and that the fire is under control.

The Havering Daily visited the scene in Dagenham just before 9am this morning where the smoke was still billowing across the sky.

Residents had been advised to keep their windows and doors closed due to the extent of the smoke.

London Fire Brigade have released the following:

Forty fire engines and around 225 firefighters are responding to a fire at a mixed-used residential and commercial building on Freshwater Road in Dagenham. 

The whole of the building is affected by the fire, including scaffolding surrounding the property and the roof.  

The fire is producing heavy smoke and local residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed. Freshwater Road is currently closed to traffic and people are urged to avoid the area where possible. 

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: “We were called to the incident at 0244 this morning.  

“The first crew arrived within five minutes and the second crew arrived within six minutes. An aerial appliance also arrived in under six minutes. To allow us to focus our resources on the incident, we have declared a major incident.  

“The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade. A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is underway.  

“The Brigade’s Control Officers have taken 16 calls to the fire, including successfully giving vital fire survival guidance to a number of people using our Fire Survival Guidance App, which allows information to be exchanged between Control and the incident ground in a timely, accurate and consistent manner.  

“We are also using new equipment such as drones and our 64-metre turntable ladders and 32-metre turntable ladders to provide incident commanders with a vantage point for assessing the scene. They are also being used as water towers to deliver water on to the fire from above. 

“The Brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre. LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents.” 

The Brigade was called at 0244. Fire crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. 

The cause of the fire is not known at this time. 

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