Major incident declared as over 200 firefighters attend huge blaze at London tower block

More than 100 people have been evacuated

Two people have been taken to hospital and more than 100 people, including children, have been evacuated from the building in Dagenham, east London.

The London Fire Brigade said the building, which was described as being a mixed-use residential and commercial building, was known to have ‘a number of fire safety issues’.

The building was known to have been covered in ‘non-compliant’ cladding. Scaffolding can be seen in pictures of the blaze which was reportedly in place to remove the cladding.

Smoke billowed into the air as 40 fire engines and 225 firefighters responded to the incident.

Emergency services were called at 2.44am and the first fire crews arrived on scene within five minutes.

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: "A full simultaneous evacuation of the building was immediately carried out and a significant search and rescue operation is under way.

"The Brigade's Control Officers have taken 16 calls to the fire, including successfully giving vital fire survival guidance to a number of people.

"We are also using new equipment such as drones and our 64-metre turntable ladders and 32-metre turntable ladders to provide incident commanders with a vantage point for assessing the scene.

"They are also being used as water towers to deliver water on to the fire from above."

The London Ambulance Service said four people were treated at the scene and two were taken to hospital.

The entire building was engulfed in flames, including the scaffolding and the roof.

The cause of the fire remains unknown and a ‘significant search and rescue operation’ is underway to try and account for everybody.

Eyewitnesses at the scene have been recounting what happened.

Dinesh Raj, whose daughter was at a sleepover in the building told Sky News: “I got a call around 3am, so I came and picked them up.

“I managed to take my daughter and my friends to my home. They’re all safe. I think they started smelling smoke around 3am and learned there was a fire.

“They had a six-month baby as well, so they managed to grab the baby and my daughter and get out the building.

"I think the majority [of residents] managed to step out before the fire started spreading.

"But everything they have is back in the building and we have no clue what happened."

A centre for those affected has been set up in the Becontree Heath Leisure Centre.