East London police station fire: Forest Gate station blaze in Romford Road

Firefighters tackled a blaze at a police station in east London on Wednesday evening.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said 35 engines and around 175 crew members attended the scene at Forest Gate police station in Romford Road. The brigade was called at 4.17pm and crews had the fire under control by 11.08pm.

Around 60 people were evacuated from the building before the Brigade arrived. One person was treated at the scene and taken to hospital.

The mansard roof of the building was alight and produced large amounts of smoke.

The cause of the fire is not yet known. 

Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne, LFB's incident commander, said: "This was a challenging incident for firefighters as the fire was located in the roof of the police station. Crews made extensive use of our 32m and 64m ladders to attack the fire from above, and our drone team was deployed to provided us with a view of the scene as we responded."

"Throughout the incident a concern for our crews was the possibility of the fire spreading to adjacent properties. Thanks to their hard work we were able to prevent that from occurring, and the fire was limited to the police station. Firefighters also conducted operations to ensure that essential police property within the building remained protected from the blaze and was moved to a place of safety.

"Our specialist Fire Investigators will now begin to carry out their investigation into the cause of the fire. Due to the scale and nature of the incident, this is may be a protracted investigation."

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 4.22pm today (March 6) to reports of a fire in Romford Road, Forest Gate.

“We sent a number of resources to the scene including ambulance crews and members of our Hazardous Area Response Team. We treated one patient at the scene and took them to hospital.”

A Met Police spokesperson said on Wednesday evening: "London Fire Brigade are currently dealing with a fire at Forest Gate Police Station on the third floor of the building.

"The building has been evacuated. We are not aware of any injuries or people trapped in the building."

Firefighters from Stratford, Leytonstone, Plaistow and surrounding fire stations attended the scene. Crews remained on scene through the night, carrying out further operations.