Halesowen restaurant fire brings town centre to a standstill

Roads were closed as emergency crews tackled the blaze at the Bangla Lounge, in High Street.

Buses were diverted away from the town centre as routes including the Queensway were shut by police.

Shoppers were kept behind a cordon away from the burning Indian restaurant after the fire started at 8.18am.

At its height around 25 firefighters were tackling the blaze as flames swept through the first floor of the building opposite St John the Baptist Church and burst through the roof.

Police taped off a section off High Street and Queensway by the Earls island shortly after the fire began to stop traffic passing the scene.

Fire engines were packed into the roadway as firefighters wore breathing apparatus to attempt to douse the flames.

Station commander Dave James, from West Midlands Fire Service, said: "People were reporting they could see flames and smoke coming through the roof of the building."

He added firefighters in breathing apparatus were then able to put out the fire in a short period of time.

An investigation into the cause of the blaze which took around 25 minutes to bring under control is now being carried out.

It comes after a woman suffered serious burns when a blaze broke out in her Stourbridge flat last night.

The woman, who has not yet been named, suffered 80 per cent burns in the fire last night at a three-storey block of flats in Wollaston.

She is believed to be aged in her late 30s and was today being treated at a specialist unit at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Claire Brown said crews gave her pain relief before taken her to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.