Blackwall: Seventy firefighters tackle tower block blaze

Seventy firefighters have spent more than an hour tackling a blaze which broke out at a 45-storey block of flats in Blackwall, east London.

Videos on social media showed thick black acrid smoke billowing out of the side of a building on Biscayne Avenue.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it received the first emergency call just before 13:30 BST and confirmed it was brought under control by 14:50 BST.

It is the second high-rise fire in east London the brigade has had to deal with on Monday, having tackled a blaze which engulfed a building in Dagenham.

Of the fire in Blackwall, it was not yet clear whether anybody was injured.

In a statement, LFB said the blaze took hold inside a flat on the 25th floor.

“The fire produced a large amount of smoke,” it said.

The cause of the fire is not known at this time and it will be investigated, the brigade added.

Eye witness Dylan Lee said he saw flames and smoke billowing from the structure while he was in his apartment in Canary Wharf, opposite Blackwall.

“Debris and pieces had fallen from the balcony, glass shattered and caused the fire to expand and engulf the space, with flames reaching out as the wind carried the smoke,” the 28-year-old said.

“I felt dread, especially considering this is the second apartment fire in 24 hours in east London alone.

“I’m hoping the residents made it out ok and the firefighters are in one piece. This was somebody’s home.”

The brigade added its 999 control officers had taken more than 100 calls about the fire.

Ten fire engines and crews from Millwall, Plaistow, Shadwell and surrounding fire stations were at the scene, LFB added.

This fire is near to where another blaze broke out a nearby residential tower block in May 2021.

Then, four children and 38 adults were evacuated from a building on Fairmont Avenue after a fire broke out at the New Providence Wharf estate.

Firefighters spent three hours tackling that blaze which badly damaged the middle floors of the 19-storey building.

A subsequent report by LFB weeks later found the failure of safety equipment at the block could have had “tragic consequences”.

It said an electrical fault on a timer switch on a “consumer unit” was the cause of that fire, which then led to flames travelling through an open balcony window.

The report added the fire spread to the 11th floor, partly fuelled by timber decking on balconies and not by Grenfell-style cladding.