A homeless camp in central London has been devastated after catching fire.
Fire engines raced to the blaze on Tottenham Court Road shortly before midnight on Sunday, with the flammable tents and piles of rubbish destroyed by fire.
Pictures and videos from the scene show bright orange flames and black smoke pouring into the sky.
There were more than a dozen tents in the encampment, set up more than a year ago, which provided shelter to several rough sleepers.
One of them, 51-year-old Gary Birdsall, woke up to the sound of ‘fire engines and I heard screaming’, MailOnline reports.
The fire is being treated by police as non-suspicious, but several tents were burned out as the homeless ran for their lives.
Locals are now working with rough sleepers to try and rebuild their camp.
The camp, near Goodge Street station, was destroyed with some of the occupants trying to start again now that the charred wreckage of the former camp has been cleared.
Three tents have set up as several homeless people struggle to restore their makeshift homes in freezing conditions.
One of the occupants trying to rebuild his life, who gave his name as Steve told Metro: ‘We don’t know what started the fire I luckily wasn’t there at the time but my stuff was burned. Now I’m trying to set up again.
‘People locally have tried to help giving blankets and food and that sort of thing. Thing is it was a little community here and now my friends are gone but people around here, the workers and that, they help out.
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‘The fire is a shock as we didn’t have a lot in the first place and my friends had to run to save themselves.’
Ricky Mitchell, 45, who works in maintenance at nearby UCL, said the local community were supportive of the camp and he would be ‘disgusted’ if the blaze had been an arson attack.
He told Metro: ‘I feel so sorry for the homeless here as if they haven’t got enough to contend with especially in the freezing conditions.
‘When I pass I sometimes give them food, a roll or something, life is just not fair on some people.
‘When I came to work on Monday I saw the site and the damage and I was gutted for them.
‘I hope it was not arson that would be disgusting. Hopefully they can rebuild.’
Frederick Fabroa, 39, who also works at UCL, said: ‘They have been here ages and we feel so sorry for them. We do not want them to have to leave. They have nowhere to go.’
Fire Crews from Euston and Islington took an hour to get the blaze, which started in a rubbish pile, under control.
A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said: ‘Around four cubic metres of rubbish were destroyed by the fire. Half of a tent and an electrical display board were damaged by the fire.
‘Control officers took the first of three calls at 11.56pm and mobilised crews from Euston and Islington fire stations to the scene. The incident was over for firefighters at 1.06am.’
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