Firefighters were battling a major blaze in south-west London in the early hours of Monday, with a four-storey block of flats engulfed in flames.

A total of 20 fire engines and some 125 firefighters were sent to the scene, in Sherbrooke Way, Worcester Park, after the fire broke out at around 1.30am and quickly spread.

The London Ambulance Service later said no injuries had been reported.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman told the PA news agency the fire was “still going” at around 6.30am but was under control.

“This is a challenging fire and firefighters are working hard to bring the blaze under control,” said Graham Adams, station manager at the London Fire Brigade.

“Firefighters will remain on scene for a number of hours and we would urge people to avoid the area if possible.”

The fire service said 999 control officers had received 29 calls about the fire.

The cause is not yet known.

The ambulance service tweeted: “Our crews are still on scene responding to a fire in #WorcesterPark

“No injuries reported but we remain on scene as a precaution”.

Resident Stephen Nobrega, 40, described the moment he was awoken by his partner in the middle of the night after the fire took hold.

Nobrega, who has three children aged 13, six, and eight months, told the PA news agency: “I was woken up by my missus at about 1.20am, screaming and shouting: ‘Fire! Fire!’

“I heard a lot of residents outside and by that point somebody was already banging on my window and pressing my buzzer so I knew it was quite serious.

“I got out of bed, got what you see me wearing on, got the kids with something on and managed to get us all out safely, which is the main thing.”

The resident, who lives in a part-owned, part-rented flat on the ground floor, added: “I could hear alarms going off but it was only when I was outside and could see the plume of smoke coming out.

“The top right corner is where the fire started, in that area.

“Within about 20 minutes, fairly quick, it started ripping through, going from apartment to apartment, right to left, and then it started going down and caught alight on the other side”.

Speaking to one of the firefighters, Nobrega said he was told his apartment seems to have survived, but the water damage is horrendous.

“It’s gone”.