Major incident declared in east London after fire engulfs huge block of flats

by Mick the Ram

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) have declared a major incident after a multi-story block of flats was enveloped in flames in the east of the city.

Firefighters arrived on the scene within five minutes of the first call that came in just before 3am on 26 August and soon after more than 200 were in attendance at the incident in Dagenham.  

Two people have been taken to hospital, at least four had treatment on site,  and more than 100 residents had to be evacuated.

A rest centre has been set up to support local residents as a search and rescue operation has been activated, as not everyone has been accounted for.

Work had been under way to remove non-compliant cladding on the flats which were known to have a number of fire safety issues, although at this stage the cause of the blaze is not yet known.

Advice to keep away from area

The declaration of “major incident” meant that special arrangements could be made and allowed focus to be concentrated on the incident.

Although the fire was gradually brought more under control, nearby residents were instructed to keep their windows closed and avoid the area where possible, as the fire continued to produce heavy toxic smoke.

More than 200 firefighters at blaze

Drone footage showed huge flames rising above the block as the LFB tackled the blaze in Dagenham, which is around 12 miles to the east of the centre of the capital.

At its height, forty appliances and as many as 225 firefighters were on the scene, arriving from stations right across London and Essex.

Scaffolding alight

The entire building was affected, stretching from the ground floor right the way up to the roof, and even the scaffolding erected around the outside was also ablaze.

The scaffolding was in place as work was under way to remove the “non-compliant” cladding on it.  

Resident speaks of “worst nightmare”

Residents living on the first floor of the building spoke of being woken in the early hours by neighbours frantically banging on doors to alert everyone to the imminent danger.

Dinesh Raj said they left as soon as they became aware and the fire after smelling smoke and it had spread so quickly that by the time they were out of the building the fire had already spread to the top floor.

Another resident, Martin Perry-Taylor, 44, described smoke engulfing the building with “piercing screams” waking him up.

He said: ‘It was madness. I woke to all this screaming and alarms and just chaos. It was dreadful; there were piercing screams and smoke was everywhere – it was unreal. I got out straight away and there was just mayhem with people fleeing and getting out; it was my worst nightmare

Memories of Grenfell

The mention of non-compliant cladding immediately evokes memories of the terrible Grenfell tower block fire, back in 2017, which caused the death of 72 people.

A group was set up following that tragedy called “Grenfell United” which represents survivors and bereaved families from their fire and they very quickly tweeted their support to those affected by the latest incident.

Their post read: “Our thoughts are with all those impacted by the fire in Dagenham this morning, we hope all residents are safe and adequately cared for by the authorities”

Latest equipment out into action by LFB

The condition of the two people taken to hospital or those treated at the scene remains unknown, but a statement released by the London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe confirmed that the service had arrived within five minutes of notification, quickly followed just minutes later by a second crew.

He clarified that it was indeed being treated as a major incident and that a full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation was put into operation.

He went on to say: “We are using new equipment such as drones and our 64-metre turntable ladders and 32-metre turntable ladders to provide incident commanders with a vantage point for assessing the scene. They are also being used as water towers to deliver water on to the fire from above.”