Four fire trucks and about 25 firefighters were called into the fire on Grange Road. -Credit: London Fire Brigade

Part of a store in Stratford was destroyed by the fire, which is believed to have been accidentally caused by the self-heating of the towels in the tumble dryer.  

Just after 11:10 pm on Friday, October 29, four fire trucks and about 25 firefighters were called into the store fire on Vicarage Road.

The fire destroyed the ground floor of a middle terraced store with apartments on it, and it took about two hours for firefighters to control the fire.

There were no reports of injuries. 

A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) provided safety advice after the incident. He said: “These types of fires usually involve oil-contaminated textiles, the most common being flaxseed, massage oil and tea towels, tablecloths and chef’s white paper Cooking oil on top.  

"Be sure to check the manufacturer's cleaning recommendations for textiles before washing.

"Sometimes, when the material is cleaned and put into the tumble dryer, the heat generated by the tumble dryer cannot be dissipated.  

"This may cause a temperature high enough to smoulder and eventually ignite." 

The spokesperson added that when washing and then drying in a thermal cycle, the "cooling cycle on the tumble dryer" should always be used to allow the heat to "properly dissipate" before stacking the washed items together.  

Firefighters from Stratford, Leytonstone, Plaistow and Leyton fire stations rushed to the scene. 

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