Guests and staff safe following Mandarin Oriental blaze
All guests and staff are believed to have escaped unhurt from the fire yesterday at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park London hotel.
London Ambulance Service has reported no injuries in the blaze that broke out at the newly renovated 189-bedroom, five-red-AA-star hotel on William Street at 3:55pm. Some 120 firefighters were called to the tackle the fire. The hotel had unveiled a £85m renovation of the property only last week.
A large plume of smoke rising from the building could be seen for miles around as 36 hotel guests and 250 hotel staff were evacuated. The fire was eventually brought under control at 9:51pm.
The fire is believed to have spread across a vertical facade for plants and vegetation and into several floors of the hotel but was quickly extinguished. The external planting facade was damaged along with small parts of several floors of the hotel, the roof and plant machinery on the roof.
Mandarin Oriental released an updated statement this afternoon, which said: "On the afternoon of 6 June a fire broke out at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. The fire has been extinguished and all guests and colleagues are safe and accounted for.
"We would like to express our appreciation to everyone who has conveyed their concern about this sad incident and we also thank the emergency services for their swift response. We are working closely with them to ensure the safety of the building and to assess the full extent of the damage.
"Hotel guests are being accommodated at other hotels in the vicinity and we are in the process of assisting future guests with alternative accommodation until such time that we are ready to re-open."
The hotel group had earlier confirmed that the fire did not extend to the residences at One Hyde Park.
Nearby hotels, including the Capital, offered support to Mandarin Oriental guests and staff, including delivering bottles of water to those in the park.
London Fire Brigade station manager Pam Oparaocha was at the scene. She said: "Firefighters worked extremely hard in exceptionally hot conditions to bring the fire under control. Crews wearing breathing apparatus carried out search and rescue operations throughout the inside of the building.
"Firefighters are likely to remain at the scene throughout Thursday (7 June) and fire investigators will then take over to establish how the blaze started."
Fire crews from Chelsea, Kensington, Hammersmith, Battersea and other surrounding fire stations were at the scene. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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