Twenty fire engines and around 125 firefighters were called to a fire at a block of flats at New Providence Wharf on Fairmont Avenue in Poplar.
Parts of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors of a 19-storey block were alight. A flat on the eighth floor was destroyed by the blaze and parts of flats on the ninth and tenth floors were also damaged.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus rescued 34 people from the building and used 22 fire escape hoods to carry out some of the rescues. A further 67 people left the building before the Brigade arrived.
London Ambulance Service crews treated 37 residents for shock and smoke inhalation. Thirty five of them were discharged and two men were taken to hospital.
The Brigade's 999 Control Officers took 31 calls to the fire.
The Brigade was called at 0855 and the fire was under control by 1132. Fire crews from Poplar, Millwall, Shadwell, Plaistow, Whitechapel and surrounding fire stations were at the scene.
The fire started in a consumer unit, known more commonly as a fuse board, in an eighth floor flat. Due to the severity of the fire, more testing is needed to find out how exactly the consumer unit failed.