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Fire at Chiltern Firehouse caused by pizza oven

Fire at Chiltern Firehouse caused by pizza oven

Telegraph17-02-2025
A fire that tore through the Chiltern Firehouse, a luxury London hotel favoured by celebrities, was caused by a pizza oven.
The venue, which had been set to host a star-studded post-Bafta awards party on Sunday evening, was partially destroyed by the blaze, which happened on Valentine's Day.
London Fire Brigade said it spread through the four-storey hotel in central London via ducting, damaging parts of the ground floor, half of the second floor and destroying the third floor and roof.
The fire service said the fire was started accidentally 'by burning wood falling from a pizza oven and igniting the void between the basement and ground floor'.
Formerly a fire station in the 1880s, the venue was repurposed as a five-star hotel, which opened in Marylebone in 2013.
The hotel is owned by Andre Balazs, the American hotelier, and is a popular celebrity hangout that has been visited by guests such as Princess Beatrice and Brad Pitt.
London Brigade assistant commissioner Paul McCourt, said: 'Crews worked incredibly hard for over eight hours in arduous conditions. Presented with a complex fire in a historically significant building, formerly Manchester Square Fire Station, firefighters successfully contained the fire, preventing it from spreading to neighbouring properties.'
Around 100 people were evacuated and there were no injuries as a result of the blaze, which was tackled by around 125 firefighters using 20 fire engines.
Mr Balazs said on Friday night that the venue would be 'closed until further notice'.
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time32 minutes ago

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