Major fire at London 2012 Olympics site

LONDON—A huge fire broke out Monday in a disused building on the site for the 2012 London Olympic Games, emergency services and Olympic officials said Monday.
Huge plumes of black smoke billowed up on the city’s eastern skyline after the blaze erupted at the Olympic park in Stratford, east London, while some 75 firefighters rushed to deal with it.
There was no indication of terrorist involvement, police said. London has been on high alert since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and was hit by a suicide attack in July 2005 that killed 56 people including four bombers.
London Ambulance Service said there were no immediate reports of casualties. The Olympic Delivery Authority, which is in charge of projects relating to the games, said in a statement that the building affected was being demolished.
“The fire is on the western edge of the Olympic Park on the site of an empty warehouse, behind the bus depot on Waterden Road,” about half a mile (three-quarters of a kilometre) north of the main stadium site, it added. Large parts of the area where the Olympics will be held, much of which are former industrial sites, are now undergoing demolition and rebuilding work ahead of the Olympic Games. And a London Ambulance Service spokesman added: “We have sent two ambulances, a fast response car and an officer to the scene.”
The site is within view of the City of London financial district and is also close to the new high-speed Channel Tunnel rail link, which connects Britain and continental Europe and is due to come into service Wednesday.
The new Stratford International rail station, which will be on the main line to Saint Pancras station, is also nearby.
Ben Ruse, a spokesman for London and Continental Railways, which will operate the line, said the fire was very close to the line and the station but that they would not be affected.
Danny Cherry, a 30-year-old print worker, noticed the blaze shortly after 1200 GMT. He said: “We heard this small bang and came rushing out. What we could see was just so much smoke.
Ruth Ward-Jackson, a 26-year-old print designer, described the fire as “huge with a massive amount of black smoke and yellow flames coming out of it.
A bus driver who gave his name only as Gbola said he was on a break in the bus garage next to the warehouse which went on fire when he noticed the flames.
“We had to rush to get the buses out. Flames were going high, very, very high,” he said. “We were all very afraid”.
The blaze broke out shortly after noon on the western boundary of the Olympic Park site in Stratford, the Olympic Delivery Authority said.
Police said there was nothing to suggest a suspicious cause. “We only know it’s a fire,” a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said. “There’s nothing to suggest anything else at the moment.”
The industrial area, about 5 1/2 miles east of central London, is under extensive reconstruction for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Olympics officials said the fire broke out near the site where the main press center will be located.
“We heard this small bang and came rushing out,” said Danny Cherry, 30, a print worker. “What we could see was just so much smoke.” “I think it’s actually an old clothes factory,” Cherry said. “”It’s an old building that they were going to knock down anyway.”
One railway line was closed because of smoke, Network Rail said. Transport for London, the agency that operates bus and subway services, said there were three bus garages in the area but none was involved in the fire.—Agencies