A fire damaged the first floor of a flat above a café on Green Lanes in Hornsey this morning.
While there were no people in the flat affected, the flat has no smoke alarm and so residents in the flat above were unaware of the fire until the Brigade arrived.
Watch Manager Sami Goldbrom who was at the fire said:
“The building did not have any smoke alarms and two people living in the flat above did not know a fire had broken out. Having a working smoke alarm is essential. Every home should have at least one. Smoke alarms provide vital early warning and buy you extra time to escape if there a fire and help raise the alarm to those nearby.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation but it is believed that the fire was started by careless disposal of a cigarette. A third of all fires in the home are caused by smoking materials.
Four fire engines, 21 firefighters and officers from Hornsey and Tottenham fire stations attended the incident.
The Brigade was called at 0730 and the fire was under control at 0835.