A WOMAN has been sectioned after a huge fire gutted much of the top four floors of a Kingston tower block on Monday evening.

The unnamed 32-year-old was arrested on suspicion of arson on Monday night after flames swept through the 15-storey Maddingley block on the Cambridge Road estate.

She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act the following day and has been taken to a psychiatric hospital for assessment, a police spokesman confirmed this week.

Up to 100 firefighters spent more than four hours tackling the huge blaze, which began on the 12th floor shortly before 5pm. Residents were evacuated from the block and surrounding flats as the fire spread to the roof, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the skies.

Although some were due to be allowed back in to collect personal belongings as the Kingston Informer went to press this Wednesday, it was not known when the building would become habitable again.

A rest centre was set up at the nearby Piper Hall community centre, with council officers and members of the Red Cross on hand to offer support and advice to all those made homeless by the fire.

No one is believed to have been hurt in the fire, the cause of which remains unknown.