A FIRE that broke out at a block of flats in Great Thornton Street, could have been much more serious, a senior fire service officer has said.
Firefighters faced very strong winds while tackling the blaze on the 13th floor of the flats at 10.20pm on Thursday.
Six fire engines and 24 firefighters attended the emergency at the high-rise flats.
About ten residents had to be evacuated and two women were treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation.
The blaze broke out in the bedroom of an unoccupied flat, and is thought to have been started by a discarded cigarette.
Steve Duffield, station manager for community safety central support, is investigating the blaze.
He said: "The number of firefighters we had was purely because of the scale of the building and the height we had to work at.
"One of our major difficulties was the high winds we experienced. That high up, the winds increase significantly.
"The fire crews did a fantastic job under difficult circumstances in containing the fire to the one room in the flat.
"Through their actions, the fire didn't spread to neighbouring properties or it could have been a lot worse in a building like that."
While the blaze itself was not big, Mr Duffield said the main concern was the smoke.
He said: "In the end, it was a relatively small fire, but there was a lot of thick black smoke that had spread across the 13th floor.
"We had to evacuate about ten people from neighbouring flats and had to lead two women to safety."
Mr Duffield's initial investigations suggests a discarded cigarette was the cause of the fire.
He said: "I don't believe there were any suspicious circumstances and the most probable cause was a discarded cigarette or other smoking materials.
"There was no one in the flat at the time, but a cigarette can smoulder for some time before catching fire.
"The bedroom was badly damaged by heat and smoke while other flats were slightly smoke-logged."
Trisha Woyen lives in the adjacent block of flats on Great Thornton Street and witnessed the events unfold.
She said: "The fire broke out on the 13th floor of the flats opposite and about eight fire engines were there, along with police and a number of other services.
"Thick black smoke filled a full stairwell from the 14th floor right down to the ground.
"We were concerned for the safety of our friends who live on ninth floor, so we stayed up to watch see what happened from our flat in case they needed to be evacuated."
The fire took about two hours to bring under control and crews stood down at 12.30am.
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