17-storey tower block fills with smoke after arson attack

[dutchman]

The fire started on the 13th floor of a high-rise residential



Fire crews were called to a block of flats in Coventry after a "deliberate" fire in the bin chute.

Three fire engines were dispatched to Longfield House, Bell Green, at around 7pm on Wednesday, October 24, after the fire, which is believed to have been started deliberately, was reported.

Two crews from Foleshill Fire Station were joined by the third, from Coventry.

It is believed that paper was set alight on the 13th floor, and dropped down the building's bin chute.

This caused a build up of smoke throughout the 17-storey block, located on Bell Green Road, with the firefighters working for around two hours to ventilate the building.

Whitefriars housing, who operate the building, now look set to investigate the incident.

Watch Commander Glenn Mallabone at Foleshill Fire Station said: "We attended a deliberate fire in Longfield House yesterday evening.

"The fire itself was relatively small, but the smoke fills the floors.

"It's quite hard to ventilate it. We used our fan and opened up the lift shaft to clear the smoke, which took a couple of hours.

"It used to happen quite a lot, but not as much recently, perhaps that's down to incidents in tower blocks elsewhere.

"It ties up resources, and it can cause people to panic a little bit."