Four fire engines and 21 firefighters and officers dealt with a basement blaze on Kings Cross Road, WC1 in the early hours of this morning.

 

The ground floor housed a tailors shop and the three floors above were part of a larger complex of flats. The alarm was raised when a resident of a adjacent property smelt smoke. When he went to investigate he saw the shop was full of smoke and dialled 999.

 

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus forced access into the shop and tackled a small fire in the basement.

 

Around 20 people were evacuated from the flats and they were able to return to the flats after the incident.

 

The Brigade was called at 0052 and the fire was under control by 0237.