THIS is the moment a huge fire ripped through a high-rise block in London with over 100 evacuated from their flats.
Forty fire engines and around 225 firefighters are battling a blaze at a block of flats on Freshwater Road in Dagenham, East London.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it was called at 2.44am on Monday with crews from Dagenham, Ilford, Romford, Barking and surrounding fire stations at the scene.
The brigade said parts of the scaffolding surrounding the building, as well as the ground floor and the roof, were alight.
Two people have been taken to hospital.
Station Commander Alan Bendell, who is at the scene of the fire, said: “The fire is producing heavy smoke and we’re advising local residents to keep windows and doors closed.
“Two of the Brigade’s 32-metre turntable ladders are being used at the scene as aerial water towers to assist with tackling the fire from height.
“Freshwater Road is closed to traffic, so please avoid the area where possible.”
The fire is producing heavy smoke and local residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed.
Freshwater Road is currently closed to traffic and people are urged to avoid the area where possible.
London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: “We were called to the incident at 0244 this morning.
“The first crew arrived within five minutes and the second crew arrived within six minutes.
“An aerial appliance also arrived in under six minutes. To allow us to focus our resources on the incident, we have declared a major incident.
“The building has a number of fire safety issues known to London Fire Brigade.
“A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is underway.
“The Brigade’s Control Officers have taken 16 calls to the fire, including successfully giving vital fire survival guidance to a number of people using our Fire Survival Guidance App, which allows information to be exchanged between Control and the incident ground in a timely, accurate and consistent manner.
“We are also using new equipment such as drones and our 64-metre turntable ladders and 32-metre turntable ladders to provide incident commanders with a vantage point for assessing the scene.
“They are also being used as water towers to deliver water on to the fire from above.
“The Brigade has stood up full strategic arrangements to deal with the incident and a rest centre has been set up at Beacontree Health and Leisure Centre.
“LFB officers are stationed at the rest centre to support residents.”
The cause of the fire is not known at this time.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 2.52am today (26 August) to reports of a fire on Freshwater Road in Dagenham.
“We sent a large number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, incident response officers, an advanced paramedic in critical care, emergency planning officers, a command support vehicle and members of our hazardous area response team (HART). We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.”
“We treated four patients at the scene and took two of them to a hospital.”
