These horrifying thermal drone images show the 176C heat pumping out of an underground waste dump fire still billowing toxic fumes over east London for 20 years.
The constantly smoking illegal dump site in Launders Lane in Rainham has been likened to “Vesuvius” by locals who have barricaded their windows and doors over the summer to prevent smoke from entering their homes.
Parents say they can only watch as their children suffer nosebleeds and coughing fits.
Thermal imaging shows the heat coming off the waste site— (Mark James)
One mother, whose son has cancer, said the smoke is so bad that he is not allowed outside to play in the park.
Stay-at-home parent Melanie Dunk, 52, has lived near the fires for seven years.
She told The Independent: “It’s a living hell living near Launders Lane.
“Never in my life did I ever think it would be unsafe to breathe air.
“We are prisoners in our homes, we are unable to go into the garden, have windows or doors open with fear or breathing in this toxic smoke.
“We wake up in the night coughing, throat burning and noses bleeding.
“We all need urgent help many people are getting so sick including children.”
Smoke pours out of the underground fire on the site which has been used as an illegal dump for decades— (Simon Monaghan)
She claims her beloved French Bulldog Ronnie died after suffering sudden breathing difficulties.
She added: “It’s all very strange, he started coughing it was like he was going to choke. He was referred to the Royal Veterinary Hospital with respiratory problems and went downhill very quickly.
“We lost him in April and they could not work out where the problem stemmed from. They had no explanation. We also fitted a new extractor fan in our bathroom a few weeks ago, I wiped it over and it was absolutely black.”
To donate to the Launders Lane community fund click here.
Thermal injury reveals the heat coming off the field— (Supplied)
Residents say it’s a cruel irony that they will be forced to pay the Mayor of London’s ULEZ charges on their cars while the fires spew out clouds of air pollution over their homes.
One told The Independent a local child who was exploring the smouldering field had his shoes fused to his feet from the heat. The boy was hospitalised and needed a skin graft.
Another says a fireman handed the Sisyphean task of trying to extinguish the fire was nearly swallowed up into the ground before being pulled out of harm’s way by a colleague in the nick of time.
Since then firefighters have installed a pump nearby to tackle the perennial inferno safely from a distance.
Mark James, founder of the resident’s steering group demanding the council take action, visited the site with professional drone operators to take his own “accurate and shocking” readings.
He said: “We could feel the heat under our feet where we were standing. It was very eerie over there and smoking like a chimney still.
“A couple of minutes after the drone was airborne there were some gasps when the highest reading from within the ground was 176.4C.”
Firefighters in 2020 tackling the same fire in Rainham— (LFB)
Others claimed to be suffering severe coughs, itchy eyes and nose bleeds linked to the air pollution as they confronted their council leader Ray Morgon at a fiery meeting on Friday.
One resident compared the “hellscape” footage to living next to a volcano.
176C was detected at the hottest part of the ground— (Mark James)
She said: “That is proper scary. It’s like living next to Vesuvius. Only we won’t be covered in ash it will be far more toxic.
She joked: “It’s nice to know the council is worried over the safety of our kids and elderly.
“This should not have ever been allowed to get this far.”
Mark James could feel the heat when he visited with the drone operators on the site— (Mark James)
Havering Residents Association Cllr Sue Osprey said: “It is terrifying. It looks like a fiery volcano. I am very concerned about it. The Havering Residents Association, Mark James, the steering group, ward councillors and the landowner are all working together to find the best way forward.”
Meanwhile, Ray Morgon, Leader of Havering Council, said he was “committed to solving this problem as soon as possible”.
He said: “We will continue to work with the private landowner to resolve this. Their representative confirmed at the public meeting last week that they’re willing to pay to have the site professionally cleared as part of their planning application, so we await their proposals.
“However, the owner doesn’t need planning permission to clean up the land, as that doesn’t require consent. We will of course consider the merits of any proposal should an application be submitted.
“In the meantime, our contractor will be visiting the site to start taking soil samples alongside the landowner’s contaminated land contractor week commencing 18 September. Once these are analysed, we will know more about the dangers and risks involved in the clean-up.”
He has said the cleanup, which has been estimated to cost up to £22 million to fix, is “complex” due to issues of land ownership.
A police raid on the site in 2011 uncovered a trapdoor in a portable cabin leading to a “fully functional cannabis factory” made of buried shipping containers.
Police uncovered the underground lair concealing around 400 cannabis plants, four handguns, one AK47, two sawn-off firearms, six petrol bombs and around £20,000 in cash, police said.
At a resident’s meeting held recently an anxious mother, whose son has cancer, said the smoke is so bad that he often has a sore throat and can’t play in the park. Others spoke of their children suffering near-constant nosebleeds.
A representative for the landowner told locals of their offer to “remediate” the land in exchange for permission to develop about 25 per cent of it into an industrial machinery storage area. Previous attempts have been frustrated by Green Belt legislation.
London Fire Brigade’s Borough Commander for Havering, Paul McClenaghan, previously said his crews have attended more than 70 fires at the site since 2018.
