02/04/2015

Fire Breaks Out Under London Street

The London Fire Brigade remains at the scene of a central road in London this morning, after a blaze which broke out underneath the street.

Thousands of people were evacuated from nearby buildings on Thursday (1 April) after smoke was spotted coming out of an inspection cover on the pavement in Kingsway, Holborn.

At the height of the incident, 10 fire engines and some 70 firefighters and officers were in attendance. This morning, part of Kingsway remains closed as firefighters tackle the electrical fire.

Peter Cowup, London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner, said: "This has been a technically difficult incident to tackle. The reason that the fire is still burning is because the service tunnel is hard to reach and although firefighters have been applying water through access points throughout the night, the complexity of the tunnel layout means that it will be some time until the fire is fully extinguished.

"However, the fire is contained and we are making steady progress and working with the utility companies and the police to bring this incident to a close."

Mr Cowup added that as the blaze was "likely to be an electrical fire, we had to ensure the power was off before we applied water to extinguish it."

It is understood the power has now been isolated and the fire is contained.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

(JP/MH)

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