100 flee homes after fire at block of flats in Kennington

More than 100 people fled their homes – and several others stayed put – in a tower block fire on Saturday.

Sixty firefighters and eight fire engines tackled the blaze inside the 16-storey block of flats in Kennington, and they managed to bring the fire under control within 45 minutes.

More than 12 adults and six children were treated by ambulance on the scene.

Emergency crews were called shortly after 12.30pm to tackle the inferno, in a first floor flat on the Brandon Estate.

The flat where the fire started was severely damaged and other areas of the building were left blackened by smoke.

At least 18 people treated at the scene were suffering from minor smoke inhalation and were all discharged, London Ambulance Service (LAS) confirmed.

An LAS spokesman said: “We sent two ambulance crews, a medic in a fast response car, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and our Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene.

“The first ambulance arrived in less than four minutes.”

The LFB  control room took more than 60 999 calls. Station commander at the scene, Ned Alexander, added: “Firefighters have worked exceptionally hard to get this flat fire under control.

“The whole of the first floor flat is damaged by the blaze but crews have prevented it from spreading further.

“Around 100 people self-evacuated from the building and a number of other residents stayed within their flats.”

Investigators are probing what started the fire.