KIRAN RANDHAWA AND ROSS LYDALL
The Evening Standard

ABOUT 150 people were evacuated from their homes early today after a massive fire broke out on a building site.

The blaze, covering an area half the size of a football pitch, spread rapidly to the flats and a pub in Peckham. Witnesses reported cars exploding as 20-foot flames burst from three- and four-storey blocks. A girl living opposite the building site told how she was woken by fierce flames and ran to alert her neighbours.

Abbey Inaloz, 15, said her bedroom windows were cracking in the heat and when she looked out on to the street she could see an entire building on fire. "I initially woke up because my granddad had gone to the toilet and noticed the building site opposite us was on fire," she said. "I could hear the windows cracking and I could feel the heat in my bedroom. It was so hot.

"I was in a state of panic and remember screaming and running out of the house, knocking on all

the doors of my neighbours to alert them. The heat was so overwhelming that I had to put a blanket over my head as I couldn't breathe. I just remember everything being orange.

"When I tried to leave my house the door handle was so hot I burnt my hand."

Miss Inaloz continued: "Once I had got all my neighbours up we all went and stood together outside comforting each other. There were a few elderly people who were really distressed and crying. It's been very scary."

London Fire Brigade said more than 125 firefighters and 30 engines were at the scene. The blaze broke out before 4.30am at the site in Carisbrooke Gardens. There were fears that gas cylinders could be there. Twenty ambulances were on standby.

A brigade statement said: "The whole of a building site in Carisbrooke Gardens is on fire and there are reports that the blaze has spread to nearby residential property and a pub. A large number of people have been evacuated. A spokesman added: "The fire seems to have spread very rapidly." Residents were led to emergency council accommodation by police. The pub was the Golden Lion in Sumner Road.

Another witness, Beatrice Ghartey, told Sky News: "Cars were blowing up. It was just really scary. The blaze was moving towards us. I called the fire brigade and could not even talk. I was literally screaming Œfire'."

Police said the fire had spread to "several" blocks of flats and maisonettes in Sumner Road and Rosemary Road. One casualty was treated in hospital for smoke inhalation. The victim's condition was not thought to be life threatening.

Another witness, Lucy Pope, said dozens of people, including mothers with babies, were taking shelter as firefighters tackled the blaze.

"People are scared, they are standing in bus shelters and there are babies who have been woken up," she said. "There are people looking very scared."

Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, visited residents at the scene of the blaze and spoke to fire chiefs as the flames started to die down.

In July six people died when a fire ripped through a block of flats in nearby Camberwell. The tragedy at Lakanal House led to concerns about the design of high-rise buildings.

Transport for London said today that no major problems were reported with local bus routes. The nearest thoroughfares, Peckham High Street and the Old Kent Road, are several hundred yards away.


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November 26, 2009