Firecrews rescue man from Venue 27

The building is believed to be used by the homeless.

Firefighters found a fire developing in the ground floor of the building, which consisted of two floors and a basement. The building was smoked logged and they wore breathing apparatus entered the building to fight the fire and locate anyone inside.

They found one man suffering from smoke inhalation on the first floor and brought him safely out of the burning building using a nine meter ladder.

No one else was found in the building which suffered 20% damaged to the ground floor and was complete smoke logged. Crews cleared this using positive pressure ventilation.

The property is derelict and believed to be used by homeless people.

This created numerous hazards for firefighters including discarded needles, other drug paraphernalia, human waste and holes in the floors.

Crews also found that the electrical supply to the property had been bypassed which caused further risks to them and those in the building.

An automatic fire alarm at the nearby BT Telephone Exchange in Dunstable Place was activated by smoke from the fire.

The incident was closed at 10.02pm.