More than 170 firefighters tackled a fire at a police station in east London.
The roof of the police station in Forest Gate was “completely destroyed”, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said, with 30 fire engines and 175 firefighters on the scene.
Emergency services were called at 4.17pm on Wednesday and firefighters will remain there into the night as a “protracted investigation” begins.
There have been no reports of injuries and around 60 people were evacuated from the building before LFB arrived, with firefighters managing to stop the flames from spreading to neighbouring buildings.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan posted on X that people should “avoid the area”, while LFB’s incident commander, Pat Goulbourne, said it was a “challenging incident” for crews.
“Throughout the incident a concern for our crews was the possibility of the fire spreading to adjacent properties,” Mr Goulbourne said.
“Thanks to their hard work we were able to prevent that from occurring, and the fire was limited to the police station.”
He added crews managed to protect “essential police property” and move them to safety.
Commander Kyle Gordon, from Newham Police, said policing “continues as normal in Forest Gate”.
Firefighters used three 32m turntable ladders and one that is 64m long to “attack the fire from height”, LFB said.
Former Met sergeant and policing commentator Graham Wettone described damage to the building as “devastating”, based on images shared on social media.
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It is a “significant patrol base” in a busy part of London, he said, adding: “[The] Met have business continuity plans but this will be challenging over some time.”
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but police say it was on the third flood of the building.
The investigation may take a long time due to the “scale and nature” of the incident, LFB said.
Source Agencies
