Paddington hotel fire: 70 firefighters tackle blaze in central London

Roughly 70 firefighters have tackled a huge blaze that broke out at a hotel in central London.

Half the ground floor of the five-storey building in Craven Road, Paddington, was alight at the height of the fire on Thursday evening.

London Fire Brigade was called to the scene at around 4.40pm.

Road closures were in place and people were asked to avoid the area where possible.

Firefighters spent two hours tackling the blaze, which was under control by around 6.40pm.

A total of 10 fire engines were sent to the scene, including crews from Paddington, Kensington, North Kensington, Euston and surrounding fire stations.

A Met Police spokesperson added: “There were no reports of any injuries.”

A photo shared on social media during the height of the blaze showed smoke filling a nearby street, rising high into the air.

Witness Charlotte Whittle, 26,lives in an apartment 100 metres away from the hotel and said she saw “very distressed” people coming out on to the street as smoke filled the sky.

“I’ve been working from home today so I heard all the sirens of the fire trucks and everything,” she said.

“We could see a lot of smoke in the sky. There were people everywhere. I could see firemen rushing around. There were police, loads of ambulances in the street next to us as well.

“They were fighting it for over an hour. They evacuated part of the street and blocked off all the roads. Just watching people very distressed from the hotel on the street, I could see the police speaking to people.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, LFB confirmed.