Person needs treatment after Hockmore Tower fire in Cowley

Six fire engines were called to Hockmore Tower in Cowley at around 5pm on Tuesday to deal with the blaze on the eighth floor at the block of flats.

A person living in the flat, who had exited before the arrival of the fire service, was treated for smoke inhalation by South Central Ambulance Service.

The ambulance service has said it will not comment on the incident.

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The cause of the fire is still being investigated by the authorities.

Fire crews were sent from Slade Park, Rewley Road, Abingdon, Kidlington, Wheatley, Thame and Eynsham fire stations along with a special command unit and a hydraulic platform vehicle.

Having set up equipment to deal with a high-rise incident, two firefighters in breathing apparatus extinguished the fire using a main jet.

The flat and other communal areas were then cleared of smoke using a high-powered fan.

The fire service left the scene at around 8pm.

Hockmore Tower (Image: Google Maps)Andy Gardener, a carpenter who works for Oxford City Council's company ODS, was also called to the flat.

He said: "It was just a flat fire - quite a major one though."

"I came here to seal the door where they had had to force entry to the flat."

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In July 2022, a £1m project was completed to replace the cladding on the 1960s tower block which failed a fire safety test.

The cladding which was removed is called High-Pressure Laminate (HPL) and is used as a 'rain screen' to protect insulation underneath it from the elements.

The HPL cladding was installed on the tower between 2016 and 2017 as part of a £22.5m council scheme to improve insulation and fire safety systems in the building.

But a decision was taken to remove it by Oxford City Council after clarification about the types of cladding which were allowed on buildings was released by the government following the safety of retro-fitted cladding came into question after 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

It was replaced with a sheet aluminium rain screen instead.

Work was due to start in January 2020 but was delayed 10 months while architects reviewed safety measures.

The council and the fire service said the eight-floor block was safe to live in during the works, due to the sprinkler system and other measures.

A fire broke out in Cowley on Tuesday (Image: Newsquest)

This is not the first incident involving a fire that has happened at the building. More than 40 firefighters tackled a blaze on the fifth floor of the building in 2015.

In May 2022, more than 100 calls were made to Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue about a rooftop fire that involved garden furniture outside one of the two rooftop flats.

The Oxford Mail has approached Thames Valley Police and South Central Ambulance Service for a statement on the incident.