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Blaze rips through historic Camden Markets

It took 70 firefighters to bring a huge blaze that broke out in the middle of the night in a building at London's Camden Markets under control.

London Fire Brigade
The cause of a now under control fire at London's Camden Markets is not known. (AAP)

3 min read

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Source: AAP


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Around 70 firefighters have tackled a huge blaze that tore through a building in London's famous Camden Market.

Emergency services were called to the popular tourist attraction shortly before midnight on Sunday after the fire took hold in a property near the Camden Stables.

Onlookers described the fire "moving very fast", raising fears of explosions if it reached nearby restaurants.

The London Fire Brigade tweeted that it had sent 10 fire trucks, including an aerial appliance, to the incident, while witnesses described seeing "lots of ambulances" racing to the scene.

Crews from across central and north London fought to contain the blaze, which was "highly visible across the area", for around three hours.

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"Crews worked hard to get the fire under control and to stop it from spreading to neighbouring buildings," station manager David Reid said from the scene.

It is understood around 30 per cent of the first, second, and third floors, and a third of the roof of the building, was damaged by the fire, which was brought under control by around 2.50am (local time).

It is the second time in recent years that the north London market has been hit by a serious blaze.

In February 2008 the Camden Canal Market was destroyed by an inferno that wrecked several local landmarks and put the waterside market out of action for 15 months.

The area sees an estimated 28 million visitors a year, with crowds drawn to the area by the shopping, entertainment and nightlife on offer.

Witness Joan Ribes, 24, said on Monday: "I was just passing by when I saw the fire and they started to get firefighters and police, it was all very fast.

"We called the police to close the street to the traffic because it was very dangerous, the fire was flying through the air to the surrounding areas.

"The fire was moving very fast. People were watching, but we were scared the building could explode at any time since there are restaurants with kitchens nearby."

Footage posted on social media showed flames shooting into the sky while firefighters sprayed water through windows.

One witness said: "Just drove past Camden market and there's a huge fire on top a building, close to the Lock Bridge! Crazy crazy scenes."

Another witness tweeted: "On a night bus I just passed the start of a big fire in Camden ... I've seen lots of ambulances head north."

So far there have not been any reports of injuries from the blaze and it is understood all people at the building have been accounted for.

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We were called at 00.07 today (10th July) to reports of a fire at Camden Lock Market.

"We sent a clinical team leader and our Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) to the scene.

"We have not treated any patients, and we remain at the scene."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation and fire crews will remain during the morning to damp down hot spots.

The Camden blaze comes after the June 14 Grenfell Tower fire that killed at least 80.


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