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Worcester Park fire: four-storey block of flats alight in south-west London Worcester Park fire: four-storey block of flats destroyed
(about 4 hours later)
Firefighters were battling a major blaze in south-west London in the early hours of Monday, with a four-storey block of flats engulfed in flames. A four-storey residential block has been destroyed after a fire ripped through the building in the early hours of Monday.
A total of 20 fire engines and some 125 firefighters were sent to the scene, in Sherbrooke Way, Worcester Park, after the fire broke out and quickly spread. A charred shell is almost all that remains of the partially collapsed development in Worcester Park, Sutton, south-west London, as firefighters continue to work at the scene. The London ambulance service said no injuries had been reported.
Firefighters are continuing to work hard at the challenging fire in #WorcesterPark. Our 999 control officers have taken 29 calls to the fire https://t.co/vwKhI20eC7 pic.twitter.com/iwmJjCj1Uu Stephen Nobrega, a father of three children aged between eight months and 13, said he had lost everything when his ground-floor flat was destroyed. He said: “I was woken up by my missus at about 1.20am, screaming and shouting: ‘Fire! Fire!’
The fire brigade’s 999 control officers had taken 29 calls about the fire and engines were sent out around 1.30am. “I heard a lot of residents outside and by that point somebody was already banging on my window and pressing my buzzer, so I knew it was quite serious.
“This is a challenging fire and firefighters are working hard to bring the blaze under control,” said Graham Adams, a fire station manager who was at the scene. “I got out of bed, got what you see me wearing on, got the kids with something on and managed to get us all out safely, which is the main thing.”
Group manager Rick Ogden said: “Firefighters will remain on scene throughout the day. We would urge people to avoid the area if possible and for residents in the immediate area to keep their windows and doors closed.” Nobrega, who lived in a part-owned, part-rented two-bedroom flat on the ground floor, described how the fire quickly took hold and spread. He said: “I could hear alarms going off but it was only when I was outside and could see the plume of smoke coming out … The top-right corner is where the fire started.
Resident Dean Fowler told the BBC he was woken in the night by someone banging on his door. “Within about 20 minutes, fairly quick, it started ripping through, going from apartment to apartment, right to left, and then it started going down and caught alight on the other side.
“I then heard someone screaming ‘there’s a fire, get out’, and I just got my boys and went,” he said. “Speaking to one of the firefighters down there, he said my apartment seems to have survived, but the water damage is horrendous. It’s gone.”
Fire crews from New Malden, Sutton, Mitcham, Surbiton, Wimbledon, Kingston, Wallington and other surrounding fire stations were at the scene. Nobrega, who said he was in the process of selling the property, praised the emergency services for getting the blaze under control.
The flats are believed to be part of a development called The Hamptons, which feature a number of blocks of apartments built in an American style with timber cladding. It also features detached houses which are worth more than £1m. He said: “Fair play to them. I’ve never seen so many fire engines turn up. It’s taken them all night to bring it under control, but, to see it at its full rage, it’s a job and a half. I take my hat off to them.
“The whole of the four storey building is alight,” the LFB tweeted, at 2.26 am. “I’ve lost everything. The most important thing is everyone’s alive. There are no fatalities to my knowledge.
The London ambulance services said crews were on the scene of the fire but no injuries had been reported. A Met police spokesman also said it was “not aware of any injuries”. “But everything we had in there – from simple things like clothes to sentimental stuff which you’ll never get back – I’ve got photos of the kids on family holidays, sentimental bits and pieces, gone forever … it’s heartbreaking.”
“We were called at 1:34am today to reports of a fire at a residential address on Sherbrooke Way, Worcester Park,” the ambulance service said in a statement. A total of 20 fire engines and 125 firefighters were sent to the block, which contains around 20 flats.
“We sent an incident response officer, an ambulance crew, two medics in cars and our hazardous area response team (HART). By dawn crews were still present, pumping water into the blackened building, as a thick plume of acrid smoke drifted across the parkland towards Morden cemetery. The fire service said 999 control officers had received dozens of calls about the fire. The cause is not yet known.
“We have not treated any patients however we remain on the scene as a precaution.”
We now have 20 fire engines and around 125 firefighters at the scene of a flat fire in #WorcesterPark. The whole of the four storey building is alight https://t.co/vwKhI20eC7 pic.twitter.com/pk59FflIKpWe now have 20 fire engines and around 125 firefighters at the scene of a flat fire in #WorcesterPark. The whole of the four storey building is alight https://t.co/vwKhI20eC7 pic.twitter.com/pk59FflIKp
Firefighters are continuing to work hard at the challenging fire in #WorcesterPark. Our 999 control officers have taken 29 calls to the fire https://t.co/vwKhI20eC7 pic.twitter.com/iwmJjCj1Uu
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