Drone captures post fire view of Manchester apartment that set slight.
Photographs have revealed the devastated remains of homes after a raging inferno spread across several floors thanks to the high rise's wooden balconies.
Flames and smoke spread to several flats of the building in Manchester's Northern Quarter and a 23-year-old was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
At the height of the blaze, twelve engines were deployed and a firefighter was seen leaping from one balcony to another after being pictured outside a burning apartment.
Residents of the block revealed how they were told to stay inside their flats by firefighters as a wall of deadly smoke had filled the block's staircase.
An investigation has now begun into what caused the tower block fire, which comes six months after a blaze at Grenfell Tower in London killed 71 people.
The fire service said it had been spread by the block's wooden balconies, while external cladding was ruled out as an accelerant.
As the blaze raged, Manchester Fire and Rescue Service tweeted: 'We still have 12 fire appliances tackling the blaze in the Northern Quarter over a number of floors.
'Firefighting in still ongoing and one casualty has been taken to hospital suffer by smoke inhalation. Please avoid the area as roads are still shut.'
In a statement, the service also said: 'We're currently tackling a fire on the 9th floor of a 12 storey building on Joiner Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter.'
Second floor resident Megan Baxter told the Manchester Evening News: 'I heard a knock on the door, but I thought it was just a postman so I didn't answer at first.
