Ivan watched the drama unfold as he served tea, coffee and cake from the garden café on the roof of the South Bank's Queen Elizabeth Hall. He was talking about Tuesday's fire on the north side of the river which badly damaged the roof of Marconi House, a 10-storey building hosting a five-star hotel and luxury flats at the junction of the Strand and Aldwych.
Only one person suffered minor injury but it took 75 firefighters and 20 appliances to control the blaze. The photo shows fire inspectors trying to identify the cause of the fire.
A single cloud of fire smoke billowing over 21st Century London is an eerie echo of just how terrified Londoners must have felt as they looked over their bombed and burning city during the blitz of World War II.
Photo: Copyright Paul Coleman. No re-use without permission.
Paul Coleman, London, June 2011
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