A fire that tore through a luxury London hotel popular with celebrities was caused by wood falling from a pizza oven.
The Chiltern Firehouse, which had been due to host a post-Bafta film awards party on Sunday evening, was partially destroyed by the fire on Friday
Flames spread through the four-storey hotel in central London via ducting, damaging parts of the ground floor and half of the second floor and destroying the third floor and roof, the London fire brigade (LFB) said on Monday.
The fire service said the blaze started accidentally “by burning wood falling from a pizza oven and igniting the void between the basement and ground floor”.
The Marylebone venue was formerly a fire station, which was repurposed as a five-star hotel and restaurant, which is a regular celebrity haunt.
LFB’s assistant commissioner, Paul McCourt, said: “Crews worked incredibly hard for over eight hours in arduous conditions. Presented with a complex fire in a historically significant building, formerly Manchester Square fire station, firefighters successfully contained the fire, preventing it from spreading to neighbouring properties.”
About 100 people were evacuated and there were no injuries as a result of the blaze, which was tackled by about 125 firefighters using 20 fire engines.
