Arrest Made Over Tower Block Blaze

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 164 months ago
Arrest Made Over Tower Block Blaze

1307_cambridge.jpg
Photo / Nicobobinus
A woman was arrested last night in connection with a fire that blazed through the top four levels of a tower on the Cambridge Estate in Kingston.

Dramatic video footage showed the upper levels of the 15-storey Madingley block engulfed with smoke and flames, in a blaze that, at its peak yesterday afternoon, was battled by 100 firefighters; remarkably, nobody was seriously injured, though at least two families had to escape via the lift. Some touching stories of everday heroism, including a 75-year old man who helped out a deaf neighbour, are being reported by local press.

The Cambridge Estate is regularly used as a filming location for The Bill; whenever they need a seedy, run-down sink estate for a scene, the production trucks start rolling for Kingston. Had the show not been cancelled, the writers could have written a tower block fire story, a topical subject given last year's deadly blaze in Camberwell.

Last Updated 13 July 2010