Fire investigation after tower block fire in Brighton

Fire crews were called to the tower block just before 7pm

Investigators from East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service have returned to the scene of a 'significant' fire in Brighton on the day after it happened.

Dozens of firefighters were called to deal with the blaze on the second floor of a high rise building on Donald Hall Road after the alarm was raised at 6.58pm on Friday night.

Crews from Lewes, Roedean, Brighton and Hove - as well as two engines from the West Sussex fire service were deployed - eight fire engines in total. They rescued the occupant of the second floor flat and hand them over to the care of the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb).

The fire service said that crews advised other people living in the building to stay put inside their properties until the scene was made safe.

Crews extinguished the fire, ventilated the building and carried out welfare and home safety checks on all the remaining residents - bringing the incident under control by 8.21pm.

In a statement the East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service highlighted the importance of people having working smoke detectors. In this case calls were made to the fire service after a smoke detector went off - raising the alarm. The statement went on to say that the way the fire was dealt with 'highlighted excellent multi-agency collaboration' involving East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Sussex Police, SECAmb, Brighton & Hove Buses, Brighton & Hove City Council and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

A fire investigation was set to take place on Saturday 12th January.

Brighton & Hove City Council has released a statement about the incident:

Click the video below to see a report from Tom Savvides. The report does contain flashing images.