City centre rooftop blaze tackled by firefighters

A fire broke out just before midnight yesterday in the roof space of a four-storey building on Oxford Street, Southampton.Firefighters were called from St Mary?s, Redbridge, Hightown, Eastleigh, Lyndhurst, Cosham, Totton, and Botley, with specialist vehicles also required including the aerial ladder platform.One casualty was treated by South Central Ambulance Service for smoke inhalation.The ground and first floor were used as a pizza restaurant, with the upper floors used as flats which had to be evacuated. Southampton City Council were in attendance and provided accommodation for displaced occupants.Relief fire crews from Gosport and Southsea took over from the firefighters who were initially on scene.The blaze was stopped using 20 sets of breathing apparatus, four jets, three hose reels and tactical ventilation fans were used to clear smoke.The roof of the building suffered 50% fire damage with other parts of the building seeing significant fire and water damage.The stop came in at 04:07 with one crew returning later in the morning to reinspect the scene for any further hotspots.