Ten people were rescued from a burning building in Battersea this weekend (Saturday, November 20) after a flat fire broke out at a block of flats.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said that others in the building were given crucial fire safety advice over a 999 call that helped them escape the smoke before the arrival of fire crews could assist directly.

The fire broke out at a block of flats on Francis Chichester Way in Battersea around 7.04pm, when LFB said they were first called to the scene.

A flat on the ground floor of a 10-storey block on the road was partly alight, with two men managing to escape the fire soon after it broke out.

However, as the blaze continued and smoke poured from the flames, eight other people in different flats in the tower block were given potentially life-saving advice over the phone by the brigade's 999 Control Officers, who advised them to leave "as smoke was entering their flats through open windows".

Others remained inside the burning building by the time fire crews from Battersea, Chelsea, Clapham and Lambeth arrived at the scene.

LFB said they helped 10 people escape the fire by leading them out with the use of fire escape hoods.

The hoods provide people with up to 15 minutes protection from four of the main gases typically generated by fires like this (carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride and acrolein) by filtering out toxic smoke for a limited time.

LFB said that the blaze was finally brought under control by 9.02pm. The cause of the fire is now under investigation.