Firefighters are tackling a blaze in London’s White City after a fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday at the former BBC HQ.
London fire brigade (LFB) said about 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines had been called to the nine-storey building on Wood Lane shortly after 3am.
Photos from the scene indicate that the fire was mostly affecting the Helios Building at Television Centre, which has been converted into flats and a restaurant. Smoke was still billowing from the rooftop rotunda late on Saturday morning as firefighters used a drone to help tackle the blaze and crowds gathered on the street to watch and take photos.
Fire crews were drafted in from Hammersmith, North Kensington, Kensington and Chiswick. Two 32-metre turntable ladders are also in use as water towers to extinguish the fire from above. The cause of the fire is unknown.
The fire service said in a statement: “The fire is currently affecting floors towards the top of the building. A restaurant, external decking and ducting is currently alight. An unknown number of flats have also potentially been affected by the fire.”
Nearby buildings in the White City area are being evacuated by LFB and the Metropolitan police as a precaution. A rest centre has been set up for those who had to leave their homes, and the London ambulance service said it had sent an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and a hazardous area response team to the scene.
The Salvation Army could be seen handing out sandwiches to emergency workers. A London ambulance service spokesperson also confirmed that one person was treated on the scene.
One resident of the flats in the old BBC Television Centre said: “I got woken up by my girlfriend at 3am, who was coming back from work. We could really smell the smoke, it was quite thick.
“We could see about 100 firefighters and at least eight or nine fire engines that were all parked up. I could just see a red glow. It was glowing really intensely, it almost looked like a portal to the underworld. It was quite sinister.”
Li Mei, who lives in a block of flats across the road, was alerted by their partner in the early hours of the morning about the fire. “There was so much smoke – we were worried it was going to get worse,” they said. “Thank God it seems like nobody has died.”
A LFB spokesperson said the fire was ongoing and the fire crew would be on the scene for at least another few hours as they investigated the top of the building. Some roads in the area remain closed, and people are advised to avoid the area as emergency services are expected to be on location for the remainder of the day.
According to the Helios Building’s website, it has 162 homes, along with a gym and a 47-bedroom hotel. It was previously part of the Television Centre, which served as the BBC’s headquarters until 2013, when the broadcaster moved to its current location at Broadcasting House, in Portland Place.
