Vehicles and warehouse damaged in Sainsbury's DC fire

Sainsbury’s has said it is working hard to minimise disruption to its deliveries to convenience stores in London, following a fire at a distribution centre in Charlton yesterday afternoon.

The fire damaged six trucks and a section of the warehouse. Two hundred members of staff evacuated the building, with five people treated for smoke inhalation damage.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s told Motortransport.co.uk that no one was hurt during the incident and that everyone on site had been accounted for.

He added: “We are assessing the damage to our distribution centre, which serves a number of our London convenience stores, and will work hard to ensure that any impact on their deliveries is minimised.”

London Fire Brigade station manager Bruce Grain said: "During its early stages this was a very intense fire. Crews wearing breathing apparatus attacked it extremely quickly and thanks to their efforts the fire was prevented from spreading any further into the warehouse and causing even more damage.”

The distribution centre is fitted with a sprinkler system, which activated during the fire. London Fire Brigade said that the system helped reduce the impact of the blaze on the main building.

Photo courtesy of the London Fire Brigade