Residents temporarily evacuated from Ledbury tower during flat fire

Around 4.15pm on Sunday 8th October, residents in Skenfrith House on the Ledbury Estate were briefly evacuated after a small fire broke out in a kitchen of one of the flats.

Early reports indicate that a pan was mistakenly left on one of the hot plate cookers, handed out by Southwark Council as a temporary cooking facility. It is also understood that the fire brigade had to force entry to the flat in question to extinguish the fire, as the resident was not at home.

Fire marshals raised the alarm when smoke appeared from a flat, and then began evacuating residents.

The fire marshals, employed by Southwark Council, have been stationed in the four tower blocks, tasked with patrolling 24 hours a day since the end of June, when it was discovered that large cracks breached the compartmentation between flats  and, as such, London Fire Brigade insisted that the towers were manned around the clock and the 'stay put' policy be replaced with a 'get out' policy. Southwark staff have now set up a 'Satellite Office' in the estate's TRA hall, and are in charge of the fire marshals and the overall situation on the estate.

After being briefly partially evacuated, residents were allowed back into the building. Some residents however later emerged from the building and raised concerns that they weren't notified or evacuated at all, and had no idea what was going on. They questioned Southwark's handling of the matter and voiced concerns on the evacuation procedure.