Last updated: 09/07/2018, 6:20 PM

Peckham - lightning strike causes fire in sheltered accommodation block

05/08/2017 13:27
Southwark
Fire at commercial property
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A lightning strike is believed to have caused a fire in a sheltered accommodation block in Peckham this weekend.

Six fire engines and around 35 firefighters and officers were called to the blaze on Commercial Way on Saturday afternoon (5 August). 

Half of a three-roomed flat on the third floor and a small part of an outer wall and insulation at the four floor block was damaged by the fire. Ten people were led to safety by fire crews.  No injuries were reported.

The fire was extinguished by crews working from inside the building, from its roof and from an aerial ladder platform. The walls around the affected area had to be dismantled so firefighters could gain access to the smouldering insulation between the interior and exterior walls.
 
The Brigade was called at 1327 and the incident was under control by 1727.  Fire crews from Brixton, Dockhead, Peckham, Deptford, Greenwich, New Cross fire stations were at the scene.

The cause of the blaze was accidental and was believed to have been caused when insulation between the internal and external walls on the fourth floor ignited after the lightning strike.