A woman was taken to hospital after a fire in the refuse chute of a block of flats on Sunday afternoon.

In the first of two incidents at the flats, firefighters were called to Mellish Court, in Melrose Avenue, Bletchley, at 2.51pm.

A fire had broken out in the refuse disposal unit on the ground floor of the 18-storey building, and smoke was rising through the communal chute.

It caused smoke-logging to the ninth floor, where a woman had to be helped to safety after suffering from the effects of breathing in smoke and taken to hospital.

Eight firefighters wearing breathing apparatus cleared the smoke with a fan and put out the fire with a hose reel.

She was taken to hospital by South Central Ambulance Service.
About 35 people had to leave their flats while the incident was being dealt with.

In a separate incident, firefighters were called back to Mellish Court at 7.10pm because of a fire in bags of rubbish in a bin cupboard on the third floor.