A child was rescued from the second floor of a burning building in Ilford on Tuesday morning after firefighters reached them wearing breathing apparatus and carrying a smoke hood, as a major road through the area was closed in both directions.
The fire broke out in an office building with residential flats above on Green Lane. Emergency services shut the A1083 in both directions between the Sunnyside Road roundabout and Gordon Road, bringing traffic in the area to a standstill.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus rescued one child from the second floor using a smoke hood.”
“The child was treated on scene by London Ambulance Service.”
Half of the ground floor of the building was damaged by the fire, and part of the staircase between the first and second floors was damaged by smoke. The extent of the damage to the flats above was not immediately clear.
London Fire Brigade control officers received the first of three calls about the blaze at 11.23am. Three fire engines were sent to the scene, from Ilford, Barking and East Ham stations.
The rescue relied on a piece of kit that has become standard for London firefighters in recent years. Smoke hoods give a person caught in a smoky building up to 15 minutes of protection from four of the main fire gases — carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride and acrolein. They filter toxic smoke to make breathing easier, but they do not supply oxygen, and they can be worn by people who are conscious or unconscious.
London firefighters were among the first in the UK to carry fire escape hoods when they were introduced in 2018, as part of the improvements that followed the Grenfell Tower fire.
The fire also caused serious disruption for people travelling through Ilford. Bus services 128, 145 and 150 were diverted around the closure, and drivers faced congestion on surrounding roads while the A1083 stayed shut.
No reopening time for the road had been confirmed, and the cause of the fire had not been stated.
The Ilford blaze follows other recent fires that have closed London roads, including the fire on Barnsbury Street in Islington, which shut the road between Thornhill Road and Liverpool Road, and the basement fire at a fitness club on Queensway in Bayswater, which was believed to have started in a tumble dryer.
