Ten Fire Engines Tackle Serious Blaze At Crawley Hotel

Fire crews from West Sussex and Surrey are tackling a fire at a hotel near Gatwick Airport this afternoon (Friday 12).

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to the fire in London Road shortly before 3pm.

At least ten crews from across West Sussex and Surrey have attended the blaze in one of the upper floors of the Ibis hotel.

The following crews have attended: Billingshurst, two from Crawley, two from East Grinstead, Horsham, Banstead, Dorking, Reigate and Salfords.

The Aerial Ladder Platform from Horsham has also been sent to the scene along with the service’s Technical Rescue Unit and the drone and the Incident Command Unit from Haywards Heath.

Additional crews from Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Partridge Green, Shoreham and Turners Hill have since been mobilised to the scene along with the Breathing Apparatus Support Unit from Chichester and Surrey FRS’s Aerial Ladder Platform from Leatherhead.

Eight sets of breathing apparatus were in use at around 5.15pm.

The building has been safely evacuated.

Crews remained at the scene at 5.15pm.

A spokesperson for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service said:

“We are currently in attendance at the scene of a fire involving a premises on London Road near Gatwick.

“Joint Fire Control was alerted to reports of a fire on the fifth floor of the building at 2.56pm this afternoon and mobilised crews from Billingshurst, two from Crawley, two from East Grinstead and Horsham to the scene along with Surrey Fire & Rescue Service appliances from Banstead, Dorking, Reigate and Salfords. The Aerial Ladder Platform from Horsham has also been sent to the scene along with the service’s Technical Rescue Unit and the drone and the Incident Command Unit from Haywards Heath.

“Additional crews from Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Partridge Green, Shoreham and Turners Hill have since been mobilised to the scene along with the Breathing Apparatus Support Unit from Chichester and Surrey FRS’s Aerial Ladder Platform from Leatherhead.

“Eight sets of breathing apparatus are currently in use and crews are using two jets, a safety jet and a covering jet to bring the fire under control.

“The building has been safely evacuated, and we would urge people to avoid the area to allow crews to work safely.”

Updates to follow... 

Serious Fire make pumps 10 ⁦@WestSussexFire⁩ ⁦@SurreyFRS⁩ ⁦@GatwickPolice⁩ pic.twitter.com/D03gxpgcmM pic.twitter.com/jZZ6rYRhRB

— eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) March 12, 2021

⚠️ We are dealing with a fire involving a premises on London Road near Gatwick.
The building has been safely evacuated.
Crews from @CrawleyFire999 @horsham and @SurreyFRS appliances from Reigate, Dorking and Salfords are in attendance.
Please avoid the area.
⚠️

— West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (@WestSussexFire) March 12, 2021

*Updated

*Firefighters from West Sussex Fire and Rescue Sussex say they were still on scene until the early hours of the morning.

Crews have been dampening down the area.

We have begun scaling down the incident, and now have six crews still in attendance at the scene of the earlier fire. Crews are continuing to dampen down and turn over to ensure there are no further hotspots. Work is expected to continue into the early hours of the morning.

— West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (@WestSussexFire) March 12, 2021