Residents in Plaistow “had a lucky escape” after a fire broke out in a restaurant below them in the early hours of the morning.

Ten people living in flats above a takeaway restaurant on Barking road managed to escape the building before the Brigade arrived at about 2am.

The takeaway was closed when the fire began and passing police officers raised the alarm after spotting smoke outside the building.

Four fire engines and around 21 firefighters and officers from Plaistow, Stratford, Poplar and Shadwell fire stations attended the incident.

The takeaway wasn’t fitted with any automatic fire detection and it was only through smoke alarms sounding in the flats above that residents were alerted to the blaze.

Part of the ground floor restaurant was left damaged by the fire.

Watch Manager Richard Abbott who was at the scene said: “The residents of the flats were alerted when their smoke alarms went off and they had time to leave the building safely. It is essential that you have at least one working smoke alarm on every level of your home and test it regularly.

“Smoke alarms provide vital early warning and buy you extra time to escape if there is a fire.

“However, the takeaway restaurant did not have any automatic fire detection in place and the blaze was well developed when our crews arrived at the scene.

Firefighters did well to confine the fire to the ground floor. Business owners should ensure their premises have the appropriate fire detection in place to help keep their premises and occupants safe.”

The fire was under control by about 3am.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.