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Around 80 firefighters have spent the night tackling a huge blaze in an east London multi-storey block of flats.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said 12 engines were called to Harry Zeital Way in Clapton at around 11pm on Monday.
Firefighters are tackling a fire at a block of flats in #Hackney The balcony from the ground to the fifth floor is alight t.co/j58L0yv7qA pic.twitter.com/osB5zq5AyE
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire)Firefighters are tackling a fire at a block of flats in #Hackney The balcony from the ground to the fifth floor is alight https://t.co/j58L0yv7qA pic.twitter.com/osB5zq5AyE
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) September 16, 2019
Part of an external balcony from the ground to the fifth floor of the block had caught fire, the LFB said, although it added that the cause of the fire is not yet known.
The fire brigade received 67 emergency calls about the incident, it said, and numerous videos appeared on social media appearing to show the building alight.
Fire chiefs tweeted at 2.21am that the fire was under control, although small pockets of flames had yet to be put out and firefighters remain at the scene.
In an earlier tweet, the service confirmed that its crews had led one woman to safety from the first floor and said there were no reports of any injuries at this stage.
Local resident Esra Forrester told Inside Housing that she lives in a similar building nearby. “We were sleeping and we heard people screaming,” she said.
Firefighters will be on scene at the #Hackney fire throughout the night. Part of the roof of the building remains alight. Crews led one woman to safety from the first floor and there are no reports of any injuries at this stage t.co/j58L0yv7qA pic.twitter.com/Bg1O1qShpQ
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire)Firefighters will be on scene at the #Hackney fire throughout the night. Part of the roof of the building remains alight. Crews led one woman to safety from the first floor and there are no reports of any injuries at this stage https://t.co/j58L0yv7qA pic.twitter.com/Bg1O1qShpQ
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) September 16, 2019
“I live in same type of building – it’s very scary. Straight after Grenfell [the building’s management company] put up stickers showing where the fire exits are, but there’s no lighting on them.”
She said that the building took “about four minutes” to go up in flames.
“The roof kept lighting up, every time [the firefighters] put the hose on it. It took about two hours to put out.”
Other people at the scene said there was no alarm in the other sections of the building.
“I only knew because someone knocked on my door and shouted ‘fire’,” one person said. “We’ve got smoke detectors in the flats and in the hall but there was no alarm. We didn’t hear anything.”
Residents also said that they had raised concerns about cladding on the building after the Grenfell fire and had been told it had been “treated”.
A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey, who confirmed that the developer built the block, said: “The safety of residents is our number-one priority and we will support them while investigations are under way.
We are in contact with the London Fire Brigade to establish the cause of the fire and will be closely working with them as they carry out their investigation.”