Man held on suspicion of arson after Croydon flat fire
Firefighters smash their way into flat in south London after neighbours call 999 - 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of causing blaze
13 July 2009
A MAN has been arrested on suspicion of arson following a blaze in a Croydon tower block.
• Patients evacuated as fire rips through Croydon's Mayday hospital
Firefighters from Croydon and Woodside stations smashed their way into the burning flat after panicked neighbours called 999, fearing that three people – a woman and two children – were trapped inside.
After they gained access to the property, smoke poured out into the central corridor, prompting further 999 calls from locals who feared that the whole building had caught fire.
Emergency services were called to Albury Court, in Tanfield Road, Croydon, shortly after 10.30pm on Saturday night after residents reported a strong smell of burning and hearing a smoke alarm going off in a first-floor flat.
Police later arrested a man, believed to be 30, who is suspected of starting the fire. He has since been held in custody.
The scene has been sealed off by police investigators as they try to determine the cause of the blaze.
"We were told that there was possibly a woman and two children in there"
Watch manager Bob Scrivener, from Croydon Fire Station, said: "We were told that there was possibly a woman and two children in there.
"We forced our way into the property and put the fire out. We did a full search of the flat and luckily there was no one in there. The whole flat was damaged."
The news comes a week after a huge blaze in a tower block in Camberwell killed six people, including two children and a three-week-old baby, and just two days after a major fire ripped through a building in Dean Street, Soho.
Anyone with any information should contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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