Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Flames spread over hotel roof
TRAVELODGE FIRE ‘STARTED IN BIN STORE’
WITNESSES have described their shock at seeing flames “spread up cladding” on a Brentford hotel fire which took 100 firefighters to tackle in the early hours.
Around 160 guests and members of staff were evacuated from the Travelodge Kew Bridge hotel in West London and no injuries have been reported.
The London Fire Brigade were called at 2.52am on Wednesday, December 4.
MyLondon spoke to two evacuated guests, Austin Tant and Jay Phelps, who work for a blacksmiths company and come from Dorset. They were staying in the hotel last night ready to work on a project today.
Austin, 23, said: “I woke up at about half two to the fire alarm. I casually slung my work gear on as I know these fire alarms don’t often mean the real thing.
“I got outside and the bin shed of the hotel was on fire.
“It spread very quickly up the cladding and it was really difficult for firefighters to actually access the flames with hoses.
“We’re sitting in McDonald’s waiting for more news.
“Our work equipment is all inside so we hope to get that back. It looks like my room is on the safe side.”
Austin’s colleague, Jay Phelps, 34 said: “The first thing I knew, it’s about half two and the fire alarm is going off.
“I thought it was another false alarm or someone was smoking in their room so I laid there for a minute, realised it wasn’t a false alarm, then got up, got dressed and came downstairs, where I saw the fire.
“The fire was well established by the time we saw it. I think at that point there was only about four fire engines and 15 to 20 firefighters. Within half an hour there were lots more fire engines. I watched the fire spread from the bin shed, catch onto the external cladding and go up higher and higher.
“The inside installation caught fire and then it spread up into the roof and along the roof, of most of the building I’m led to believe.”
Fifteen fire engines and around 100 firefighters dealt with the fire.
London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Graham Ellis who was at the scene said: “Offensive firefighting helped stop the fire spreading further and protected large parts of the building. Firefighters carried out a systematic search of the hotel and around 160 guests and staff evacuated the building. There were no reports of any injuries. A rest centre has been set up by the local authority.
“This is an excellent example of multi-agencies working together to bring a challenging incident under control with no injuries. Police, London Ambulance Service, Hounslow Council, Transport for London and Travelodge’s cohesive approach is ensuring that normality can be restored to the local community as quickly as possible.