Car park fire at Westfield Stratford prompts evacuations

Shoppers were evacuated from Westfield Stratford on Saturday after a vehicle fire broke out in a multistorey car park on Montfichet Road, prompting a large-scale response from the London Fire Brigade and filling the sky over east London with thick black smoke. Emergency services received the first calls just after 4pm and mobilised crews from several stations to tackle the blaze on an upper level of car park C.

London Fire Brigade said about 70 firefighters and ten fire engines were sent to the scene, and a 32 metre turntable ladder was used to assist operations. Control officers received 35 calls reporting the incident, the brigade said, and crews from Stratford, Poplar, Leytonstone and surrounding stations attended. The fire was brought under control at 5.54pm, according to an LFB update issued on Monday.

Officials said the blaze began in the engine compartment of a diesel powered vehicle. LFB investigators now regard the fire as accidental and believe it was caused by an undetermined fault in the car’s engine compartment. The brigade reported that around ten vehicles were destroyed by the fire and a further ten sustained varying degrees of damage from heat spread.