Guests and staff were evacuated from a luxury hotel in an upmarket area of central London as 120 firefighters tackled a large fire on the roof.
London Fire Brigade said 20 engines and 120 firefighters and officers had been sent to the scene at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, in Knightsbridge, as huge plumes of thick black smoke could be seen rising into the sky.
Emergency services, including fire engines and ambulance vehicles, were still arriving at around 4.45pm, almost an hour after the fire brigade was first called at 3.55pm.
Flames could be seen around the top of the hotel, and extended ladders were erected to access that area of the building.
We've now got 20 fire engines and around 120 firefighters and officers tackling a fire on the roof of a hotel in #Knightsbridge https://t.co/Q8RMsTDSTf © @jackwmartin_ pic.twitter.com/npRctIYOvk
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) June 6, 2018
Around 100 firefighters are tackling a large fire at a hotel of 12 floors in #Knightsbridge https://t.co/Q8RMsTDSTf © @jchan89 pic.twitter.com/X4PD65Mzee
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) June 6, 2018
The 12-storey five-star hotel completed the “most extensive restoration in its 115-year history”, according to a statement published by owner Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in May.
All 181 bedrooms and suites are “now more luxurious and comfortable than ever before” and the building’s “iconic facade was revitalised”, the company said.
The hotel is located between Hyde Park and the Knightsbridge shopping district, which includes Harrods.
A tradesman working at the hotel said he saw a “big fire” on the roof before raising the alarm.
A4 Knightsbridge btwn A3216 Sloane Street (Scotch Corner) + A302 Grosvenor Place (Hyde Park Corner) – Road closed, both ways, while the emergency services respond to a building fire.
— TfL Traffic News (@TfLTrafficNews) June 6, 2018
The 19-year-old lift engineer, who gave his name as Harry, said: “I said (to my colleague) ‘Lee, there’s a fire over there, let’s get out of the building. Get out the lift shaft, I’m being serious’.
“We ran down the stairs and went and got the scaffolder out of the loading bay.”
He said the builders on the roof had been cutting materials and doing other work during the day.
“I could see the orange flames on the roof,” he said.
Staff from the hotel have been evacuated to Hyde Park where they were being given
bottles of water.
One worker, who asked not to be named, said: “The fire alarm started and everybody was told to get outside.
“Everything’s fine but we don’t know how it started yet.”
Jack Martin, a 21-year-old student from Peckham, said he was coming out of Knightsbridge station when he saw a
“huge billow of smoke”.
He told the Press Association: “I obviously was quite shocked when I saw all that smoke.
“But they were evacuating the building when I arrived, there were a fair amount of staff and guests and it was all fairly orderly.
“It was all quite calm and collected, there wasn’t any hysteria and I thought it was well organised.”
Emergency services had since cordoned off the road, he said, and although there were ambulances present he had not seen any signs of injury.
