Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters tackled a flat fire on Millfields Road in Hackney.
A single-roomed flat on the third floor of a residential block was destroyed by fire. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus led a man to safety from the fourth floor via an internal staircase. A woman was treated on scene and a man was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service crews.
The Brigade was called at 1233 and the fire was under control by 1343. Fire crews from Homerton, Leyton, Walthamstow and Bethnal Green fire stations attended the scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service.