When videos saying "the Chiltern Firehouse is on fire" started popping up on social last night it wasn't a declaration of the hotel's innate coolness but instead a statement of fact. The hotel was actually on fire and it ended up taking eight firefighters and 60 firefighters to subdue the blaze which broke out on the afternoon of St Valentine's Day.
The timing of the fire couldn't have been worse with the hotel all set to host the Netflix after-party for the BAFTAs this weekend (it ended up being held in The Twenty Two instead). A hundred people were evacuated last night and several celebrities were thought to have been set to stay there.
According to the London Fire Brigade, "The fire started in ducting and spread from the ground floor to the roof of the four-storey hotel with a restaurant on the ground floor. The blaze spread to the second and third floors of the building."
Of course, the building itself actually used to be a fire station back in the day. It closed down in 2005 with the hotel opening in 2014.
A statement issued by owner Andre Balazs spoke of his gratitude at the work of firefighters who he watched "rapidly descend on what they told me was a hugely sentimental building for so many of them...We know in fact one of those who rushed to the Chiltern Firehouse this evening had been stationed in the building when it was a fire station 30 years ago."
The hotel is now closed until further notice.
More about Chiltern Firehouse
Where is it? 1 Chiltern St, London W1U 7PA
Find out more: Visit their website.
Photo: London Fire Brigade
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