Blaze destroys tent at Tottenham Court Road homeless encampment

A fire engulfed a tent from a homeless encampment on Tottenham Court Road on Sunday evening. No causalities have been reported.

Firefighters were called to the scene on the pavement opposite the junction with Torrington Place in Fitzrovia shortly before midnight.

Crews from Euston and Islington brought the blaze under control and were finished at the scene an hour later.

A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said: “Around four cubic metres of rubbish were destroyed by the fire. Half of a tent and an electrical display board were damaged by the fire.

“Control officers took the first of three calls at 11.56pm and mobilised crews from Euston and Islington fire stations to the scene. The incident was over for firefighters at 1.06am.”

No further information about the blaze has been released by the LFB or the Met Police.

Tottenham Court Road has a large number of people sleeping on the streets either out in the open or in tents. Between July and September this year outreach teams in the London Borough of Camden made contact with 298 people sleeping rough on the street across the whole of the local authority area.

In a separate incident on Saturday afternoon, firefighters attended a blaze in a flat on Maple Street.

“Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters tackled a fire in a house converted into flats on Maple Street in Fitzrovia,” said the LFB in a statement.

“A four-roomed flat on the third floor and a four-roomed flat on the fourth floor on the four-storey building were partially damaged by fire. There were no reports of any injuries.

“The Brigade’s 999 control officers received a call to this incident at 3.06pm and mobilised crews from Euston, Soho and Paddington fire stations to the scene. The fire was under control by 4.25pm.

“The fire is believed to be accidental and caused by a fault in a bathroom extractor fan.”

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