I can see practically the whole of London spread round me…the whole of the skyline to the south lit up with a ruddy glow…the flames are leaping up in the air now…the dome of St Paul's ...

The London Fire Brigade said on X they had about “20 fire engines and around 125 firefighters at the scene of the #Marylebone hotel fire” after it first erupted earlier in the afternoon.

The sound of a fire engine racing ... alongside the regular fire brigade. The bombardment that began on 7 September 1940 caused the biggest fires seen in London since the Great Fire of 1666.