A man has said he saw “embers” and an “orange glow” coming from a window at Chiltern Firehouse after the blaze broke out.
Guy Fischman, 23, from Richmond, southwest London, was leaving work near Bond Street when he said he saw “the whole street full of smoke”.
He told the Press Assocation news agency: “My coat stinks of smoke right now. There was really thick smoke and it got into the other street as well. I walked out and the visibility was awful.
“I did not expect it to be so bad especially seeing the embers coming from the window at the top because it was so dark you can just see the orange glow and they (the firefighters) were really trying to fight it with the water jets.”
Mr Fischman said he saw emergency service vehicles near the hotel at about 2pm, but didn’t see any smoke. Three hours later when he left his workplace he said the road was closed off because “there were loads more fire engines” with large hoses and a crane.
He said: “(The fire) definitely got bigger than expected. I didn’t expect it to get so big seeing as the fire brigade got there quite early. The whole street was shut off and you could see the smoke from quite far away… it was crazy.”
He said he was “in complete shock” seeing the thick smoke and glowing embers of the flames and added: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in the UK or in London.”
