Four fire engines and 21 firefighters and officers were to a fire at a block of flats in Galsworthy Road in Kingston.
A lift car on the fourth floor of the building was destroyed by fire. Twenty people left the building before the arrival of the Brigade. A further seven were led to safety by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus.
The Brigade was called at 0859 and the fire was under control at 1029. Fire crews from Kingston, Surbiton, and New Malden fire stations attended the scene.
The cause of the fire is accidental, originating in an electrical fault within the lift car.