Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters tackled a fire at a block of flats on Church Road in Upper Norwood.
Half of the first floor was damaged by the fire. Six people were escorted from the lower ground floor of the building by the Metropolitan Police Service. Firefighters rescued ten people from the first and second floors using a 13.5 metre ladder and a 9 metre ladder. Six of the people rescued were taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service.
Station Officer Dean Juckes, the initial Incident Commander, said: “Upon arriving at the scene, we found multiple people who required rescue from the first and second floors of the building. Working incredibly hard in challenging conditions, firefighters used several ladders to bring ten people to safety.
"Additionally, crews worked closely with the Brigade’s Control Officers, who provided critical, lifesaving fire survival guidance to those still inside the building awaiting rescue.
"It is a testament to the hard work of crews and Control Officers that there was no loss of life or serious injury at this incident."
Fire survival guidance is the advice given by Control Officers to people who are directly affected by fire, heat or smoke and cannot leave their premises. The Brigade's fire survival guidance app enables our Control Officers to exchange information between the Incident Ground and those within a building who have contacted the Brigade.
One of the Brigade's 32-metre turntable ladders was used at the scene as an observation tower to help fight the fire from above.
Control Officers took the first call at 0333 and delivered fire survival guidance to people who were in the building before they were rescued. Crews were mobilised from West Norwood, Woodside, Norbury and surrounding fire stations to the scene. Firefighters had the fire under control by 0510.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service.