Over 125 firefighters battle major Walthamstow blaze affecting homes and rail line

On a Sunday evening in Walthamstow, east London, fire moved through a residential neighbourhood with the indifferent speed that fire always has, touching homes, gardens, and the railway embankment before more than 125 firefighters could bring it to rest. No lives were lost — a mercy that deserves to be named — but hundreds of people found themselves without a place to sleep, reminded in the most immediate way that the stability of home is never quite as permanent as it feels. What followed the flames was, as it often is, a story about community: strangers arriving with food and water, a neighb