LONDON — Firefighters battled a massive blaze at an east London recycling center Sunday as the city prepared for the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Officials said the blaze was the biggest they had seen in the city for years, but that the Games would in no way be affected.

The fire — about 7 miles east of the Olympic Park — was brought under control by late Sunday. A London Fire Brigade statement said the whole of the 165-by-330-foot, single-story recycling center had burned and that, at one point, a plume of smoke could be seen across the capital.

‘‘We’ve not seen a fire of this size in London for several years,’’ London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said. ‘‘It’s certainly a dramatic end to the Olympics for the London Fire Brigade.’’

The statement said more than 200 firefighters drawn from across the city had been sent to fight the fire in Dagenham, an industrial, riverside area at the very edge of the capital.

In a message later posted to Twitter, the fire service said the Dagenham fire had been contained.