Fire in four-storey building leaves three families homeless

Crews extinguished a fire in a four-storey building which has left three families homeless.

Firefighters were called to Queens Road, Buckhurst Hill today at 3.33pm and were faced with large amounts of smoke coming from the building.

Crews from Loughton, Waltham Abbey, Grays (Aerial Ladder Platform) and two crews from London Fire Brigade initially attended the incident.

Station Manager Dave Bond said: "Firefighters entered the building to locate the fire and worked in arduous conditions to stop it from spreading.

"The complex layout of the building made it even more difficult because the fire travelled through voids over four floors. 

"Crews from Essex and London worked reallly hard together to locate, tackle and bring the fire under control and stop this incident from escalating."

The fire was completely extinguished just before 8pm and relief crews, from Grays, Basildon and Chelmsford, took over the monitor hotspots.

The building itself is home to a restaurant, offices and a flat, and adjoining homes were also affected by the smoke. In total, three families have had to move out temporarily while the damage to their homes is assessed.

The fire was found to have started accidentally in an extraction system.