LONDON, March 8, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - More than 100 firefighters on Monday took
over three hours to bring under control a blaze that broke out in a 21-storey
residential and commercial building in east London.

   Twenty fire engines and 125 crew were deployed to Whitechapel High Street,
near the British capital's financial district, shortly after 4:00 pm (1600
GMT).

   Some 60 people were forced to evacuate the building after the blaze broke
out on the 17th floor and affected balconies on the 17th, 18th and 19th
floors.

   Station commander Chris Jenner, from the London Fire Brigade, called it a
"dynamic and visible fire", and said emergency line operators fielded more
than 50 calls in the early stages.

   "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," he added.

   "Fire crews used a fire escape hood to help lead the woman to safety via
the internal staircase."

   Fire escape hoods provide up to 15 minutes of protection from four of the
main fire gases -- carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride and
acrolein.

   They temporarily filter toxic smoke to assist breathing.

   Jenner said crews deployed a 64-metre (210-feet) turntable ladder -- the
tallest in Europe -- to get water onto the fire from outside the building.

   The blaze was eventually brought under control shortly after 7:00 pm.

   "The professionalism, hard work and quick actions of control officers and
firefighters limited the damage to the block and prevented serious injuries,"
he added.

   There was no immediate indication as to what caused the fire, which saw
debris fall onto the road below, forcing it to be cordoned off.

   In June 2017, a fire at the residential block of Grenfell Tower in west
London killed 72 people. It was blamed on highly combustible cladding on the
24-storey block's outside walls.

   In January, the government said it would make developers contribute more
to the cost of removing such cladding from all buildings in Britain, as a
public inquiry continues into the Grenfell disaster.