Hoxton fire: Woman dies after blaze in basement

A card at the scene read ‘may you be free and paint the heavens with your creativity’
A fire broke out in the basement of a property in Hoxton
Evening Standard
Jacob Phillips27 March 2024

A woman has died after a fire broke out early in the morning in a Hoxton basement.

Firefighters were called shortly after 6am on Tuesday to a blaze at a mid-terraced house in Shepherdess Walk by an automatic fire alarm.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and the woman was pronounced dead inside the home.

Her next of kin have been informed.

A floral tribute and card were left at the scene on Wednesday morning
Evening Standard

A floral tribute was left by neighbours outside the front door of the property on Wednesday with a card saying “Rest in Peace”.

It continued: “May you be free and paint the heavens with your creativity.”

A neighbour told the Standard he had seen the lady who died the day before the incident.

He said: “I saw her in the morning and she looked normal. 

“She has been here a long time and lived there alone. She was widowed - her partner passed away some time ago.” 

The Metropolitan Police said they were called by the London Fire Brigade at around 6.37am on Tuesday.

The force said enquiries were ongoing but the police are not treating the incident as suspicious.

Two fire engines and around 10 firefighters from Shoreditch and Islington fire stations attended the scene and the incident was over for firefighters by 6.53am.

The incident comes days after a man in his 60s was arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire tore through a home in Hackney.

Four people were taken to hospital after the ground floor and first floor of the three-storey house on Newick Road were destroyed by the blaze on Wednesday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in