Residents of a housing block in Bromley who were rehomed after a fire broke out in the building will start to return to their homes.

Around 80 firefighters and 12 fire engines tackled the blaze which happened inside two flats in St Marks Square on August 15.

Part of a three roomed flat on the tenth floor and half of a three roomed flat on the eleventh floor were damaged by the blaze.

Josh Cope, living two floors below a unit that went on fire in Varney Court, had previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that tenants were being rehoused as far away as Dartford.

The 31-year-old said the incident has led to housing association, Moat Homes, rehousing the tenants of Varney Court to homes in Sidcup, Blackheath or further away in Dartford.

However, the tenant’s profession requires him to be near Bromley as he would be unable to afford commuting from further away.

Mr Cope said: “Everyone’s in the same position. Luckily, we’ve got family locally who are on holiday so they said that we can have their house for two weeks, but after that I don’t know where I could end up.”

“They offered me Dartford or Thornton Heath and I said I can’t because all my work is this way.

"I can’t go that far because at the end of the day it’s going to cost me £130 in travel a week to get to work.”

Anne Brighton, Director of Neighbourhood Services at Moat, told the News Shopper that they understand how “challenging” and “upsetting” this time has been for residents.

She added that they’re working closely with the building's managing agent and are hopeful that some customers will start to return home next week.

She explained: “Our team is at St Mark’s Square daily, supporting and assisting with whatever they need. 

“We appreciate that living outside of the borough is not practical for everyone, so we’ve continually been looking for alternative accommodation closer to St Mark’s Square and have been relocating customers as this becomes available. 

“We're working closely with the building's managing agent as they carry out thorough safety checks and repairs, and we’re hopeful that some customers will start to return home next week.”

The fire was believed to have been accidental caused by an electrical event occurring in an extension lead that was being used on a balcony. 

One person, who wishes to be kept anonymous, previously told the News Shopper that two police officers from Bromley station had entered the building and evacuated residents before the brigade arrived.

They were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and released from hospital later the same day.

Paulin Ngon, who has been living in Brouard Court for the past four years said he didn’t find out about the fire until he came back from work.

He told the LDRS: “It was a little bit of a shock because this is the second time, the roof has been burned already.

“It looks like they haven’t learned their lesson. What they should have done is inspected all of the flats to make sure no one is doing something dodgy because we have already had a fire here.”

Two years ago on July 3, another fire broke out in St Marks Square at the same block of flats.

120 people were rescued where a part of the roof was damaged and half of a five-room flat on the 15th floor was destroyed from the fire.

The fire was believed to have been accidental and caused by the unsafe disposal of smoking materials.

There were no reports of any injuries.