A shop front caught fire after discarded cigarettes butts were thrown from flats above, according to firefighters.
Firefighters were called to the fire at the grocery shop on Barking Road, near the junction of Prince Regent Lane, in Plaistow at around 3.30pm this afternoon.
Watch manager at Plaistow fire station, Steve McDermott, said: “Cigarettes had been discarded out of the windows from the flats above and one had got stuck in the canopy above the shop.
“It had been lying there smouldering and the smoke gradually got worse. People should use ashtrays instead of discarding their cigarette stubs.”
It took firefighters from Plaistow and East Ham stations about half an hour to bring the fire under control.
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