London Firefighters Tackle Flames At 19-Storey Tower Block with Grenfell-Type Cladding (+Video)

Fire engulfed parts of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors at New Providence Wharf on Fairmount Avenue in Poplar, the London Fire Brigade said.

Around 22 per cent of the building's facade features ACM PE cladding panels, which were found to be a key factor in the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

Work to replace the cladding was “underway,” building developer Ballymore said in a statement. The main contractor had been due to take possession of the site on Monday.

Footage and pictures on social media showed firefighters battling to get the fire under control.

In a statement on Friday morning, the capital’s firefighters said “we have sent a number of resources, including ambulance crews, clinical team managers, an incident response officer, a command support vehicle, an emergency planning and resilience officer, and our hazardous area response teams.”

The London Ambulance Service said that some people required medical attention. “They have treated a number of people and remain at the scene, where they are working with other emergency services.”

According to the fire service, two men had been taken to hospital and a further “38 adults and four children have been treated at the scene by London Ambulance Service crews for shock and smoke inhalation.”

In a tweet, shortly after midday, the fire brigade said the blaze had been brought under control.

Reports suggest that the building was clad with Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) panels, a flammable substance often used as a rainscreen, and that talks to replace the panels had been going on for a number of years.

Replacing such panelling has supposedly been a government priority since a fire tore through Grenfell Tower in 2017, killing 72 and injuring many more. The fire was caused by an electrical fault in a refrigerator, but its spread was exacerbated by flammable exterior cladding on the building.