Residents were given a rude awakening this morning when a fire broke out in a derelict store below their flats.
West Norwood and Woodside fire officers attended at 6am this morning to the fire in Church Road, Crystal Palace.
West Norwood crew manager Nina Rowe said: "It was a small fire in a basement of a commercial property under redevelopment with flats above.
"We were called out by one of the residents in the flats.
"If (the residents) didn't have a smoke alarm we would not have been called as quickly to the fire."
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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