Huge blaze erupts at 15-floor London tower block sparking dozens of evacuations with 70 firefighters scrambled
A HUGE blaze erupted at a 15-floor tower block sparking dozens of evacuations today.
Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters responded to a fire on Queens Road West in Plaistow, east London.
The inferno was in a 10th-floor flat and the balcony and interior were well alight, London Fire Brigade said.
A spokesperson for the brigade continued: “Three men left the flat before the Brigade arrived, and are being treated on scene by the London Ambulance Service.
“Around 30 people have been evacuated by the building.”
It added that there had been more than 30 calls reporting the fire.
The first was received just after 8am and firefighters from East Ham, Plaistow, Stratford and surrounding fire stations were at the scene.
The cause of the fire was not yet known.
The brigade later announced that the fire was under control.
Traffic in the area will be affected as crews respond, LFB said.
Mizan Rahman, 38 who lives on the 13th floor, told The Sun: “My neighbour came and knocked on the door this morning at 8 about the fire.
“I had to send my son to school with no shoes.”
Shipa Ahmed, 32, who has lived in the block for eight years, said: “My wife had a hospital appointment this morning and when she woke up and went to the balcony she saw so much smoke.
“I was in the bedroom and I could smell it. When my wife said there was a fire I grabbed my 19-month-old son and we left.
“I’m a heart failure patient and I left my heart medication and everything. The smoke was coming from under the flat.
“We don’t know what caused it but they’re investigating it.”