Cops are searching for a serial arsonist after seven fires were started on and around the St Matthews Estate, Brixton, in the early hours of Sunday.
In the most serious of the incidents, 70 residents were told to leave Crownstone Court, Crownstone Road, in the middle of the night as a blaze took hold of a ground floor flat.
Between 12.30am and 4.30am two fires were started in Crownstone Road, a sofa was set alight outside Byrne House and cars and mopeds were torched in Dulwich Road, Josephine Avenue and Brockham Drive.
Police are now trying to trace a dark-skinned man, about 5’7″ tall wearing a dark coloured jacket and cap. He was also carrying a dark backpack.
A family of three escaped from their ground floor flat in Crownstone Court and were treated at the scene by the London Ambulance Service for smoke inhalation. The flat was badly damaged by blaze, which started at about 1.40am A woman and baby also escaped from their first floor flat, which was also partly damaged by fire.
Watch manager Simon Friedlander from Brixton Fire Station said: “It was a serious fire so it’s really fortunate that no one was badly hurt. We were very relieved that everyone managed to escape safely.
“We were on the scene within five minutes of being called to the fire and crews worked really hard to bring the fire under control as quickly as possible. The ground floor flat was very badly damaged by the fire.”
It is thought that a moped outside the flats was also damaged by fire. The Met Police were on the scene and the cause of the fire is under investigation. Two fire engines, one from Brixton and one from West Norwood, and around 10 firefighters battled the flames.
Anyone with information about the fires should call DC Ben Parritt at Lambeth police on 020 8721 3631 or by e-mail at Ben.D.Parratt@met.police.uk. Alternatively you can call CrimeStoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
