Dozens of firefighters were drafted in to tackle the third fire to break out on a Rainham road in just five days.

The London Fire Brigade's (LFB) 999 control officers took 12 calls to the blaze, which was spotted at a landfill site in Launders Lane just before 4pm yesterday (April 20).

There were multiple seats of fire in an area of fly-tipped waste, and at the height of the incident about 60 firefighters using eight fire engines were working to put out the fire.

It took them 11 hours - until 2.45am this morning - to bring the blaze under control.

This latest fire follows two others in the last week, on Sunday (April 17) and Friday (April 15) respectively.

A similar spate was seen in the area in the summer of 2020.

These multiple incidents have caused travel delays; New Road has been shut in both directions - between Upminster Road North and East Hall Lane - while Launders Lane has also been affected.

An LFB spokesperson said all the fires are still being investigated and their causes have not yet been confirmed.

On Sunday night, a grass fire on an area of wasteland in Launders Lane took 25 firefighters an hour-and-a-half to extinguish.

Friday's blaze - on multiple seats of shrubland and bush wasteland - was more serious.

Forty firefighters battled from 2am until 8.20pm to bring it under control.