A fire broke out in Wanstead Flats on Wednesday, just three days after the open space was the scene of London’s largest ever grass fire.

The blaze started at around 2.35pm near Lakehouse Road, 250 meters away from the scorched earth and shrubbery left behind from last weekend’s fire.

Around 400 square metres of vegetation was alight and four fire engines and around 25 firefighters from Stratford, Plaistow, Leyton, and Homerton had it under control within an hour.

Station manager Rod Wainwright said: “We had to move very quickly to contain this fire as it had the potential to spread quite a distance.

“While the fire was very close to the site of Sunday’s fire, this was a separate blaze which just show susceptible the dry ground is to grass fires.

“I can’t stress how important it is for people to be very careful when they dispose of cigarettes and glass bottles."

At its height, more than 220 firefighters were tackling the fire on Sunday, which was the same size as 100 football pitches.