A huge fire gutted vehicles in a car park near the industrial site where it broke out today.
Huge plumes of black smoke were sent billowing into the air and nearby buildings were evacuated after the blaze at North London Pallets, Enfield.
Fire crews pumped water out of the River Lea as they battled the fire in East Duck Lees Lane after being called at around 10.15am.
Nearby homes and businesses were evacuated and motorists rushed to move their vehicles from a public car park next to the pallet firm - but 25 cars were damaged by the flames, with at least 11 completely destroyed.
Nearby worker Shady Moustafa told the Standard the heat was "intense".
"The first thing I thought was getting people evacuated, and then I started thinking about stock and the business," he said.
"A few of my colleagues ran over and said: 'Move your car.' My car wasn't there, but one of the cars - the one right in the centre, right in the fire - [belongs to] one of my colleagues and he's pretty upset.
"That car park is a communal car park for all the businesses around here."
Police shut nearby roads while more than 70 firefighters put out the flames, shown in pictures engulfing stacks of wooden pallets on the site.
Workers and drivers took to Twitter to share photos of the blaze, which was visible as far away as Canary Wharf.
Meanwhile, images taken from a nearby roundabout show traffic ground to a halt as thick black smoke pours into the air.
Mollison Road was closed both ways between Lee Valley Road and Jeffreys Road, according to Transport for London.
"The fire is very visible across London and in the early stages the Brigade's 999 control took 26 calls to the incident," said a brigade spokesman.
"Firefighters are at the scene tackling the industrial unit blaze. There is a lot of thick black smoke in the local area so we'd ask local residents to close their doors and windows."
As well as putting out the last of the fire, the brigade is cooling down gas cylinders that were caught in the fire to minimise the risk of an explosion.
