Four people and a dog were led to safety after a fire that caused a section of a major road to be closed off for nearly the entire day.

Cordons were in place in Cricklewood Broadway from after 10.19am till the late evening on Friday (April 20) when 70 firefighters tackled a blaze at a third floor flat.

According to the London Fire Brigade, the flat and a loft in the roof of the building above shops were destroyed.

A man was treated at the scene by London Ambulance Service crews.

After an investigation, the cause is being treated as accidental and is believed to have been caused by a fault with an extractor fan.

Ham & High: Crews in Cricklewood BroadwayCrews in Cricklewood Broadway (Image: Joseph Reaidi)

Pedestrians at the scene were frustrated as they tried to walk to or past some of the shops cordoned off between Selekt Chicken and the Costa.

Sam, who wished to not share his surname, said he was “baffled” by how long the cordon remained.

He said: "I'm 63, police are telling me to go all around through the back roads to get past what would have been a 30-second walk.

"I understand why the road's shut, but the fire has stopped hours ago, I just needed to get past the tape.

"Now I have to walk 'round the back, which will be a good five minutes."

It also resulted in gridlock in the area in the afternoon, despite the fire already under control.

At one point there was a line of six buses stuck and unable to move for at least 15 minutes.

Ham & High: Some of the buses stuck in gridlockSome of the buses stuck in gridlock (Image: Joseph Reaidi)

The fire was under control by 12.46pm.

The fire brigade has explained that closures remained until the late evening to allow crews to “work safely”.

The fire was extinguished by crews wearing breathing apparatus and a 32-metre turntable ladder was used to help put out the blaze.

A pharmacist at Gimmack Chemists said it was a shock to see the smoke come out of nowhere.

The worker said: "Just before the street was all clear and then 10.30 the entire place was covered.

"We weren't sure what it was at first: was it fog? Was it smoke?"