Investigation launched after huge fire in east London
An investigation has been launched in east London after a huge fire broke out at a business centre with flats above.
Fifteen fire engines and around 100 firefighters were called out to Fairfield Road in Bow on Friday evening (25 August).
15 people were evacuated from the building but London Fire Brigade say there have been no reported injuries.
A large part of the roof and half of the flats on the fifth and sixth floors were destroyed by fire in the seven floored building.
At the height of the fire LFB say 123 calls were made to the Brigade's 999 Control centre alerting them to the blaze.
Firefighters battled the fire for several hours, they first arrived at the scene at around 6pm and the fire was under control shortly before 9pm.
Residents say they were told they may not be allowed back into the building until Sunday, after flames ripped through and damaged the roof.
A resident, who gave his name as Drew, had been standing at the police cordon for three hours when he told the PA news agency:
"I was going to run myself a bath and I came back downstairs and looked out the window and saw loads of smoke then realised 'oh my God, it's our building that's on fire'.
"The flats at the top are two floors, I saw people through the windows as the fire was going on. The fire alarm wasn't going off, they had absolutely no idea.
"The first thing I did was call the fire service, then I ran downstairs to make sure that the building was evacuated and told the fire warden the flats hadn't been evacuated.
"It was quite clear the fire was coming from the roof, it wasn't coming from the flats.
"I ran back upstairs and grabbed my bag then ran down my corridor and banged on the doors shouting 'fire'."
Around a dozen residents were stood outside the police cordon, including a man holding a cat in his arms.
A man who lives in an adjoining building said: "I was working at my desk on the ground floor and a neighbour knocked on the window.
"I came outside and you could see all the billowing black smoke coming out of the roof.
"You could see big flames as well. It was completely surreal, it actually looked quite serious.
"Then I thought, I know that the top couple of floors are residential.
"The fire engines arrived really soon, it was a pretty sturdy response. Then the heavens opened."