06 Jun 2014
The Shard was completely evacuated on Thursday morning after smoke was detected in its basement.
When the London Fire Brigade (LFB) arrived at around 10.30am they couldn’t find any evidence of a blaze in the skyscraper and the smoke had gone.
The incident saw around 900 people leave the building, the tallest in Western Europe. No one was reported to have suffered any injuries and they were soon allowed back inside.
A spokesman for the LBF said seven fire crews of around 50 firefighters attended the 1,004ft structure and revealed it was normal procedure to send so many resources to a big building like The Shard.
Inquiries have begun into what caused the “slight smoke” and the police have not made any arrests.
Keeley Foster, one of LFB’s station managers, said the commander at the scene decided to evacuate the building to be on the safe side. She said getting so many people out of a building can be difficult and they can get in the way of firefighters but it happened quickly thanks largely to drills held by the building’s management team in co-operation with the brigade.
Copyright Press Association 2014