Four fire engines and 25 firefighters were called to a fire at a laundrette with flats above on England’s Lane in Belsize Park.
Most of the ground floor of the building was damaged by fire. Two men and a woman were out of the building before the Brigade arrived. There were no reports of any injuries.
The alarm was raised by a passer-by who saw smoke coming from the ground floor. They made the first of 30 calls to the Brigade’s 999 Control Officers.
The cause of the fire is believed to have been accidental and caused by self-heating tea towels and chef uniforms that had been removed from a tumble dryer and placed into a laundry basket.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "These types of fires often involve textiles that become contaminated with oil, most commonly linseed, massage and cooking oil on tea towels, tablecloths and chef whites. Make sure you check the manufacturers cleaning recommendations of your textiles before washing."
“Sometimes when materials are cleaned and put in tumble dryers, the heat from the tumble drying cannot escape. This can result in a high enough temperature allowing it to build up to a point where it smoulders and eventually ignites.
“If you are washing and then drying on a hot cycle, always use the cooling cycle on the tumble dryer so it cools down and allows the heat to dissipate properly, before stacking laundered items together.
“This is also a timely reminder to test your smoke alarms. There were no working smoke alarms on the ground floor of the property.
“Having working smoke alarms is so important in helping to detect fires and save lives. They can provide time to escape.
“As a minimum you should have smoke alarms on every floor - in the hallways and the rooms you use the most, plus a heat alarm in the kitchen.”
The Brigade was called at 1740 and the fire was under control by 1915. Fire crews from Kentish Town and Paddington fire stations attended the scene.