Large blaze in central London railway arch under control – fire service

LONDON (Reuters) -A large fire that broke out in a railway arch in Southwark, central London on Wednesday, which prompted the evacuation of several buildings and the suspension of train services to the area, is now under control, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.

The fire brigade, which sent ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters to the scene, said there were no reports of any injuries and investigators had launched an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

Video footage posted by the fire brigade on Twitter showed large plumes of smoke coming from under the railway arch, which the fire brigade said contained a number of vehicles and had been “completely alight”. (https://twitter.com/LondonFire/status/1559848314580992000)

Both Southwark and London Bridge stations were closed.

“The blaze was producing heavy smoke and those living or working in the local area are advised to keep their windows and doors closed,” Station Commander Wayne Johnson said in a statement on the fire service’s website.

Trains on the London Underground network’s Jubilee Line were also impacted, with LFB saying smoke coming from a platform at London Bridge underground station was confirmed to have been from the railway arch blaze.

Network Rail Kent & Sussex said on Twitter that while the fire was contained, it was still burning.

“As soon as it is safe to inspect the arches we will do so but for now there’s no change to services with diversions and cancellations across South London,” it said.

(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Bernadette Baum)