London Fire

Looks like there is a large fire at the Dairycrest site near the A40 in London

BBC News article

BBC News:
A large fire has sent smoke over west London as 75 firefighters try to extinguish the blaze at a range of industrial units.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said 15 fire engines were at the scene in Shepherds Bush.

The LFB added a safety cordon had been put up around Wood Lane in case of any gas cylinders inside the premises.

The A40 in the area and White City Tube station have also been closed after the fire started at 09:35 GMT.

An LFB spokesman said the estimated total size of the warehouses on fire was 170m by 25m (557ft by 82ft).

“We did get reports of cylinders at the site but have had no details of them being involved in the fire,” he said.

“There have been no reports of explosions.”
‘Challenging incident’

He added that the fire was not yet under control and that they expected to be on the scene for “most of the day”.

Station manager Rod Horton, who is at the scene, said: "The fire is affecting a range of industrial buildings on the dairy site.

“It’s a challenging and developing incident at the moment and we’re likely to be at the scene for some time.”

Firefighters were called to the scene at 09:35 GMT

An ambulance and a hazardous area response team is also in attendance but London Ambulance Service said no-one had been reported hurt.

More than 100 people were evacuated from the factory complex, according to a local petrol station worker.

Rashid Ansari, 23, a sales assistant at Esso petrol station in Wood Lane, said: "The fire brigade evacuated more than 100 people.

“The fire took place around the back of the Unigate factory. It is a multiple factory so 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.”

The LFB spokesman said: “People were evacuated but we are not yet sure how many.”
‘Traffic chaos’

A Transport for London spokesman said: "Due to a building fire in the Wood Lane area, the A40 is currently closed in both directions between Savoy Circus and Marylebone Road, and the A3220 West Cross Route is closed both ways between the Holland Park Roundabout and the A40 Northern Roundabout.

“Buses are currently on diversion and TfL is working to divert traffic away from the area and minimise any disruption caused by this incident.”

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.”

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.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known.