Residents have been evacuated from a block of flats in Dagenham, East London as forty fire engines and around 225 firefighters battle a blaze. Report by Etemadil. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00...
00:24And that's without light.
00:30...
00:46We were called at 02.44 this morning to a fire
00:50at a mixed-use residential and commercial building
00:54on Freshwater Road, Dagenham.
00:57The whole of the building has been affected by fire,
01:00including scaffolding surrounding the property and the roof.
01:04The first London Fire Brigade crews arrived within five minutes
01:09and a second crew arrived within six.
01:12An aerial appliance was also ordered and arrived within six minutes.
01:17In total, 40 fire engines and around 225 firefighters are at the scene.
01:27To allow us to focus on the incident, we have declared a major incident.
01:33The building has a number of fire safety issues
01:36known to the London Fire Brigade.
01:39A full, simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out
01:45with a significant search and rescue operation which is still underway.
01:51At this stage, two people have been taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service
01:57and a rest centre has been set up at Becantery Heath Leisure Centre.
02:02London Fire Brigade officers, with our partners,
02:05are stationed at the rest centre to support residents.
02:09The fire is producing heavy smoke.
02:11We're asking local residents to keep their windows and doors closed for the time being
02:17and Freshwater Road is closed to traffic.
02:19So we're asking people to avoid the area where possible.
02:24The cause of the fire at present is unknown
02:27but a full and thorough investigation into the incident and its cause will take place in due course.