50 fire fighters and ten fire engines battled a blaze at a residential tower block in Lambeth in the early hours of Friday morning, July 15.

Fire fighters from Lambeth, Brixton, Clapham and Southwark were called to the 17-storey tower block blaze at Salamanca Place, off Black Prince Road in Lambeth at about 3am on Friday morning after a fire broke out on the 4th floor.

Fire fighters rescued nine people from the building and a further ten were evacuated down an internal staircase.

No-one was seriously injured in the fire however several residents and five fire fighters were treated for smoke inhalation with seven people taken to hospital.

It is understood that residents were evacuated to a nearby hotel.

Fire fighters took more than two hours to bring the fire under control.

The cause of the fire is still unknown and is currently being investigated.

A spokesperson for Lambeth fire station said: “There was extensive damage.

The whole floor and corridor basically isn’t there anymore.”