A glow on the horizon and an acrid burning stench in the air tell townsfolk it's time to batten down the hatches. Washing is taken in, windows shut and sirens soon sound.
With its fallout zone of fumes, surface temperatures reaching 176.4C and talk of encasing the 40 acre site in concrete, a former illegal landfill site has been branded east London's own Chernobyl.
The "Rainham volcano" has been smouldering for seven years but full-blown eruptions have become an ever more frequent torment.
Those downwind consider themselves the "forgotten", cast aside in the standoff between council and developer, unable to sell their homes and escape, doomed to breathe in the rancid unknown chemicals.
Margaret Mullane, the area's MP, warns a health scandal is brewing in Rainham amid reports of migraines, sudden nosebleeds and persistent coughs, as well as life-threatening conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer.
"This is our Erin Brockovich moment. This is Toxic Town," she told The Telegraph.
A report from Havering council this month warned that "any substantial works to stop the fires may take three to seven years".
The council said it was exploring options for preventing the passage of oxygen to the decomposition bubbling up four storeys beneath the surface.
The London Fire Brigade has been called out to Arnold's Field in Rainham on more than 150 occasions in the last five years, with the borough commander now banning his firefighters from setting foot in the searing expanse.
Gordon Allen, 88, who has lived in Rainham for 50 years, can see the fires burning from his bedroom window.
"Arnold's Field was lovely. I used to walk my dogs there," he recalled. "I am annoyed that they have been able to get away with it."
The field started out as an approved landfill site, with a company called North London Developments securing planning permission in 1998 to deposit inert waste at the gravel quarry before levelling the site off and returning the topsoil to farmland.
But soon after, residents noticed fleets of unmarked lorries unloading steaming piles of matter into the 17 hectare site.
Rumours circled that the contents could be ammunition from a nearby airfield, hazardous waste from the London Olympic site or even culled animals from the foot and mouth outbreak.
"An earth band was made to keep the noise down but I think it was to let the people do anything they liked inside," said Coral Jeffrey, who has lived in Rainham for 79 years.
In April 2004, the site was served enforcement notices to stop dumping. That was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate a year later, but illegal dumping continued.
When Metropolitan Police officers searched the site in February 2011, they found one side piled high with car batteries, stoves and rubble while the other hid an array of mobile cabins and generators.
A trap door unveiled a buried maze of shipping containers housing a cannabis factory, while a Kalashnikov rifle, sawn-off shotguns and petrol bombs were also recovered.
John Reilly pleaded guilty to drug and firearms offences and was handed a 12 year prison sentence during which the site fell into further fly-tipping induced destitution.
"People are getting ill and suffering. They need to do something, " said Ms Jeffrey who collapsed last September and has since been diagnosed with bronchial asthma.
Her daughter, who also suffers with chronic asthma, runs a playgroup nearby and has spoken of the number of children needing inhalers rising from around one in 40 to one in four.
"I have had breast cancer twice and I know several ladies in Rainham who have had it. We can't prove (there's a connection) but it seems a bit strange," Ms Jeffrey added.
She said the site itself was also unsafe, citing the story of 11-year-old William Knowlden who fell off his bike in Arnold's Field in 2011.
Tumbling into a ditch, the boy's left foot was covered in a residue which ate into his skin leaving third-degree burns.
The site was purchased at auction in 2017 by Jerry O'Donovan, the owner of an equipment hire company, who insisted he would remove the waste once he had planning permission to install a depot for his machinery.
The Irishman said he would require a decade and up to £20m in finding through loans investors, and would need to persuade Havering council to make an exception for him to build on the greenbelt.
"We bought this disastrous site as we foolishly thought we could do some good for the local council/community, as well as have our own business premises to be able to expand and employ/train local people," he told the BBC.
"We have asked to have this site removed from the greenbelt, as it's no benefit to the greenbelt."
In July 2024, Havering council refused to recognise Arnold's Field formally as "contaminated land", which would have forced the council to clear it up, and instead pinned the responsibility on the landowner.
"The site belongs to the landowners and it is their responsibility to make it safe," said Gillian Ford, the council's deputy leader, while the report claimed there was no contamination as the space is "not open to the public" and there was "currently no evidence to suggest that the fires significantly spread contaminants to neighbouring properties".
Ruth Kettle-Frisby, one of three local mothers who set up campaign group Clean Air in Havering, successfully challenged the council's decision in the High Court on 17 June.
The council will now need to reassess its decision after a judge said it had failed to take into account smoke as a contaminant.
Ms Kettle-Frisby said it was the unknown cargo in the smoke particles that scared residents most.
"We don't know what's in the land so we don't know what chemicals are being carried by those particles. It's terrifying and nothing is being done," she told The Telegraph.
"There are constant underground fires smouldering, it is emitting fumes right now. Residents get nosebleeds, headaches, some talk of coughing up blood, there's cancer. It's horrific.
"It's hidden. Access to clean air is a basic need. The Rainham volcano, it splutters and splurts and there is nothing people can do. The residents refer to themselves as the forgotten people of Havering."
Chloe Duncan, 22, blames the landfill site for a dramatic deterioration in her parents' health.
"It is shortening people's lives," she said, adding: "I am worried. I have suffered from more migraines.
"The council needs to get off their backsides and do something about it."
Her mother, Louise, 41, suffered a stroke three years ago while her father, Gary, 49, has developed COPD and emphysema.
The family said they either go into lockdown or flee the area when the smoke rolls in.
"It feels like you are a prisoner in your own home," said Louise. "I get outside and choke and cough. When you blow your nose it's black.
"I am worried about her [Chloe] mostly. It is the younger generation who will suffer. Ten-year-olds are in the park breathing this. It is an invisible threat."
COPD diagnosis rates between 2006 and 2017 have been rising faster in Rainham than in other parts of the capital, according to analysis conducted by an academic at University College London in 2022.
Mrs Doyle, who did not want to give her first name, has been living in Rainham for 25 years. She said the landfill site had torpedoed any appetite in the local housing market, leaving residents unable to sell up.
She told The Telegraph: "There will come a time when I want to move but we are stuck.
"Any health problems that will be caused through exposure to toxic substances in air will not be evident for years to come. We are trapped."
Health concerns are coupled with the fear of a wildfire akin to the blaze which scorched 19 houses in nearby Wennington three years ago.
Gary Watts, 71, retired, said failing to respond now could spell tragedy down the line.
"They need to sort it out before properties burn down, before someone dies," he said. "How many times in history have we seen disasters like this?"