LONDON: Round 100 firefighters tackled a big blaze at London’s historic Somerset Home cultural centre on Saturday (Aug 17), with photos posted on social media displaying flames leaping out from beneath its roof.
“Fifteen fireplace engines and round 100 firefighters have now been despatched in response to the hearth at Somerset Home. Crews are tackling a hearth positioned in a part of the constructing’s roof,” the London Hearth Brigade posted on X, previously Twitter.
The fireplace brigade additionally mentioned that “site visitors within the surrounding space will probably be impacted” because it responds to the incident.
Different footage taken from central London confirmed thick plumes of smoke rising above the constructing, which stretches for round 180m alongside the banks of the River Thames.
The official X account of the Renaissance constructing, which opened in 1796, mentioned that “owing to a hearth in a single small a part of Somerset Home, the positioning is at the moment closed”, however then appeared to delete the put up.
The courtyard of the grand constructing hosts music gigs in the summertime, and a well-liked ice rink within the winter, showing within the 2003 movie Love Really.
It has additionally appeared in two James Bond movies, the 2008 film The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, and Tim Burton’s 1999 horror flick Sleepy Hole.
