Dozens of Firefighters Tackle Blaze in Central London

At one time 60 firefighters, who had arrived on the 12 engines called to the scene, were struggling to contain the flames that were sending huge clouds of smoke, that were visible from miles away, in to the sky. The fire, which engulfed the four-story building in Soho's Dean Street, started at 2.00pm GMT and, the Daily Mail reports that, by the time it was under control, it had destroyed up to 75% of the office block from which 50 workers had to be evacuated. Future Capital Partners Limited were the company who occupied the building. Two firefighters received minor injuries whilst dealing with the blaze but no-one from the general public was hurt. Much of Dean Street has been closed to the public and is expected to remain so for several hours. Authorities were trying to keep disruption, in a very busy part of London, to a minimum. Customers dining outside of a restaurant close to the blaze were moved inside to finish their meals but there are no reports of businesses being instructed to close. Laura Carr, General Manager of the Couch bar which is located on a different part of Dean Street to the fire-affected building, described the scene as she had seen it to several different papers:

That end of the street is sectioned off and there are fire trucks there. I think it's spread to the next building, I'm not sure. There are lots of people hanging around and just watching, and there would normally be lots of people around at this time anyway. We are trading as normal at the moment and will wait to see if there are any further instructions. We're just playing it by ear.

Today's fire, which started in an air conditioning duct according to one of the evacuated workers, comes a day after crews attended another blaze in the area. The basement of a five-story building in Newport Place was damaged by fire yesterday, but again no injuries were reported from amongst the staff and customers of the restaurant and offices that occupied the building.