Video: 25 Fire Engines, 125 Firefighters Control Tower Block Blaze In UK

Read Time:2 Minute, 18 Second

There were no reports of injuries and the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said that the blaze was now under control.

Amidst a record-breaking heatwave in the United Kingdom, around 125 firefighters and 25 fire engines were called to extinguish a large blaze at the top of a tower block in east London.

Videos and photos shared online of the fire showed smoke billowing out of a four-room apartment on the 17th floor. There were no reports of injuries and the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said that the blaze was now under control.

Firefighters are tackling a fire on the 17th floor of a building in #Woolwich. Crews are also dealing with a fire involving around one hectare of grass opposite the block https://t.co/JgvxRTlFxe © @Mr_Stevo87 pic.twitter.com/ZGGQpfkiKJ

— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) July 20, 2022

In a statement, Station Commander Keith Sanders, who was at the scene, said, “Crews arrived to find a top floor flat alight, which was producing heavy smoke. They were also faced with a grass fire in an area opposite the block.”

“Crews worked incredibly hard to bring the fire under control and smoke is now subsiding,” he added.

Tower block on fire in north Woolwich, doesn’t look good, helicopter circling pic.twitter.com/PUu1PDod4Z

— Kraft (@KraftyP) July 20, 2022

Further, Mr Sanders informed that the fire department used a 32-metre turntable ladder and drones at the scene to provide an aerial view of the incident and help officers develop tactics to bring the fire under control. He also said that the cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

Speaking to the BBC, a man who lives just a few metres from the high-rise building described the scene as a “real inferno”.

Fire outbreak #londonheatwave Woolwich pic.twitter.com/qHd8ellf9O

— Assan Jallow (@Asubaba1) July 20, 2022

Meanwhile, this comes after a major incident was declared in London on Tuesday as a spate of wildfires added pressure to the fire service. The London Fire Brigade said that it had deployed dozens of fire engines to several fires in and around the city.

The record-breaking heat also led to train cancellations in the country. Videos and photos from across the nation surfaced online, which showed the damage the record temperature caused. While one video showed houses in a village outside East of London damaged by a massive fire, another showed a forest burning on the side of a highway.