A fire at the Shard has forced parts of Europe’s tallest building to be evacuated

The Shard

A “small oven fire” in a restaurant on the 33rd floor of the Shard caused around 100 people to be evacuated from the tower.

Seven fire engines and 35 firefighters attended the incident at Western Europe’s tallest building as staff evacuated 100 customers from restaurants on levels 31, 32 and 33.  No injuries have been reported and the rest of the building was unaffected.

The oven fire was extinguished by sprinklers fitted in the building.

Fire station manager Matt Burrows said: “The building’s sprinkler system did its job and suppressed the fire in its early stages, which prevented any serious damage.”

“This incident highlights the clear benefits of sprinklers to businesses and we would urge all companies to install them. As well as being potentially life saving devices, sprinklers and other fire suppression systems help with business continuity by minimising disruption and allowing businesses to get back to normal as soon as possible.”

The Brigade was called by 1112. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The fire at the Shard follows this morning’s evacuation of ITV’s South Bank studio’s following a fire alarm, which interrupted Good Morning Britain’s broadcast.