East London fire burns through two homes

A fire in east London left two homes engulfed in flames on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials with the London Fire Department confirmed there were no injuries caused by the blaze at 25 and 27 Glass Avenue.

There’s no damage estimate yet, but fire officials are expecting a significant loss to both homes.

London resident Maida Huggett told 980 CFPL she was painting her front door around 1 p.m. when she first saw flames burning at her neighbour’s home.

“I ran down to make sure that everybody was out of the house. He came out of the front door with his dog,” said Huggett.

“We were standing there watching the flames and then it shifted over.”

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Platoon chief Al Braatz said the call originally came in as a single house fire at 27 Glass Avenue. However, the first crews to arrive quickly called for back-up when they realized the flames had spread to 25 Glass Avenue.

Braatz added that the fire “went structural,” which causes collapses to occur in affected buildings.

“We did have a ceiling fall in on Engine 6… they managed to handle it, but it was a point of hardship for them,” said Braatz.

Braatz confirmed that no firefighters were hurt from the blaze which he referred to as “stubborn.”

At one point, Huggett said she saw flames soaring as high as 20 feet into the air.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.