Fire Safety – how high can you reach?
On the afternoon of 7th March, London Fire Brigade confirmed reports of a major fire at the Crawford Building, a block of flats and offices on Whitechapel High Street, near Aldgate in East London. 25 fire engines and around 125 firefighters were called to the scene, with a 64m ladder being mobilised to the incident.
Firefighters tackled a fire in a flat on the 17th floor of the building, which also affected balconies on the 17th, 18th and 19th floors.
Journalists and people at the scene reported that external parts of the building were seen falling to the street and videos show heavy smoke clouds coming from the fire.
The building houses a mixture of commercial offices and flats and is 22 storeys in total. Three commercial units underneath the railway arches were also said to have been alight, as well as four cars and a telephone box.
According to Station Commander Chris Jenner, around 60 people were evacuated from the building with others remaining in their unaffected flats. He added: “A woman was trapped by the nature of the fire on the 17th floor. She was given fire survival advice by control officers until firefighters located her. Fire crews used a fire escape hood to help lead the woman to safety via the internal staircase.”
The ladder that was used at the incident is the UK’s tallest aerial ladder in operation, and was introduced as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire, where the Brigade announced plans to upgrade its existing fleet following the events of June 2017. Equivalent to the highest ladder in service in Europe, firefighters were able to tackle the blaze to get water onto the building from the outside. Read more…