A mother-of-two has told how she rushed her children out of her fourth floor flat after a fire broke out in her block today.

Ausra Mikulskiene, of Daffodil Gardens said she smelt smoke before hearing cries of “fire, fire” from below.

“I got my children and we ran away as quickly as we could,” she said.

“I was very scared and my daughter was screaming.

“It all happened very quickly and I could hear someone downstairs shouting ‘fire, fire’.”

The development was cleared by the emergency services with some people escaping by climbing down ladders provided by the fire brigade.

When the Recorder arrived, one man was being treated by paramedics and appeared to have burned his arm.

He was also receiving oxygen.

Residents lined the streets as firefighters took control of the fire and one angry father-of-two, who did not want to be named, put the blame on groups of teenagers who had been gathering in the area.

He said: “This used to be one of the best estates in Redbridge but now teenagers come here and smoke weed and get up to no good.

“They set fire to the area where the bins are kept and now they are targeting buildings.

“I want to move away but I can’t everyone knows what goes on here.”

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: “The fire started in the stairwell of a block of flats and spread up the stairs.

“All the plastic like hand rails and light fittings went up which created a thick toxic smoke and you couldn’t see in front of you.

“Quite a few people were rescued with the ladders.”

The London Ambulance Service arrived at the scene at 3.30pm and treated nine patients.

A spokesman said: “Four people were taken to Whipps Cross Hospital (Leytonstone) including a woman and a child with smoke inhalation and two men, one for a burn to hand and one with a hand injury.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.