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More than 100 firefighters tackle huge blaze at dealership

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Time 9:45 am, November 5, 2018

FIREFIGHTERS tackled a huge blaze at a car dealership in east London over the weekend.

Imperials, on the High Road in Chadwell Heath, Romford, had its showroom, an adjoining warehouse and seven vehicles seriously damaged by the fire.

At the height of the blaze, which happened on Saturday night, 125 firefighters were in attendance at the prestige dealership. Some parked cars, a large pile of tyres and the warehouse were alight but there were no reports of any injuries.


The London Fire Brigade took several calls from people alerting them to the incident, which was visible from some distance away.

A number of nearby residents were evacuated as a precaution.

Assistant commissioner Graham Ellis, who was at the scene, said: ‘In the early stages of this fire, quick-thinking firefighters were able to make the area safe enough for around 40 cars to be driven out of harm’s way.


‘This stopped them being an explosion risk but it also saved many thousands of pounds’ worth of vehicle damage. They also removed a number of cylinders which can explode when exposed to heat.

‘The fire spread to a pile of tyres which created a lot of thick black smoke and we advised local residents to avoid the area and keep windows and doors shut.

‘The combination of cars, cylinders, petrol, tyres and a lot of thick smoke made this a very difficult fire to tackle. Our crews did a good job from preventing the fire from spreading beyond the car dealership.’

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Rebecca Chaplin's avatar

Rebecca has been a motoring and business journalist since 2014, previously writing and presenting for titles such as the Press Association, Auto Express and Car Buyer. She has worked in many roles for Car Dealer Magazine’s publisher Blackball Media including head of editorial.



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