Dagenham fire latest: Investigation launched into east London flats blaze as second fire in Blackwall put out

An MP has demanded “a full investigation” into the cause of a fire which tore through a block of flats in Dagenham and why unsafe cladding was still being removed from the building “seven years on from Grenfell”.

Two people were left in hospital after some 225 firefighters and 40 fire engines were dispatched to the Spectrum Building, in Freshwater Road, and more than 80 people were evacuated in the early hours of the morning.

It is unclear what caused the fire in Dagenham but it is understood the building was undergoing work to have non-compliant cladding removed. After the Grenfell Tower disaster in west London in 2017, in which 72 people died, building regulations around cladding were overhauled.

Margaret Mullane, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham, said: “There needs to be a full investigation into the cause of this fire, and why, seven years on from Grenfell, unsafe cladding was still in the process of being removed.”

Just hours later, a major fire also broke out at a second block of flats just seven miles west in Blackwall, with no injuries reported.

Have you been affected by this incident? Email andy.gregory@independent.co.uk