Poplar fire: 100 firefighters rush to London tower block with ‘Grenfell-style cladding’

SMOKE is billowing across the Thames due to a devastating fire at a tower block in East London.

More than 100 firefighters and 20 fire engines from London Fire Brigade are currently at the scene on Fairmount Avenue in Poplar.

Pictures and videos circulating on Twitter show the blaze several stories high, with hazy grey smoke rising into the air above several other high-rise apartment blocks — particularly visible in the clear weather.

New Providence Wharf, a 19-storey residential development, is believed to be the building on fire.

The apartment block is covered in aluminium composite material (ACM), the same highly combustible cladding as Grenfell Tower where a fire killed 72 people in 2018, LBC reports.

Officials have yet to confirm these reports about the cladding.

Ambulance workers have treated “a number of people”, a spokesperson said, but it’s not yet known how many people have been injured and to what extent.

There are approximately 1,000 residents living in the complex, which contains 1,535 separate apartments.

A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said part of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors are alight.

The cause of the fire is not currently known, the spokesperson added.

The full statement reads: “Twenty fire engines and around 125 firefighters have been called to a fire at a block of flats on Fairmont Avenue in Poplar.

“Firefighters are tackling a blaze at a 19-storey block. Parts of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors are alight.

“The Brigade’s 999 Control Officers have taken 13 calls to the fire.

“The Brigade was called at 0855. Fire crews from Poplar, Millwall, Shadwell, Plaistow, Whitechapel and surrounding fire stations are at the scene.

“The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 9.05am this morning (7 May) to reports of a fire on Fairmont Avenue, E14.

“We have sent a number of resources, including ambulance crews, clinical team managers, an incident response officer, a command support vehicle, an emergency planning and resilience officer, and our hazardous area response teams.

“They have treated a number of people, and remain at the scene, where they are working with other emergency services.”

At least six ambulances and several police cars have been photographed at the scene on the street below.

A spokesperson for London Ambulance Service said: “We have responded alongside the London Fire Brigade to a fire in a residential building in Poplar.

“A number of crews, including from the Hazardous Area Response Team and The London Ambulance Service Emergency Planning & Resilience Officers are on the scene.”

Earlier this year a government report said ACM cladding had still not been removed from the New Providence Wharf development three years after the Grenfell tragedy.

Developers said the horseshoe-shaped design of the block made the cladding difficult to remove.

A number of other private developments were also named as still having the dangerous material outside buildings.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/breaking-poplar-fire-100-firefighters-24058532