A woman suffered serious head injuries after jumping from a third floor flat ablaze in Haggerston yesterday morning.

The woman was apparently trapped in the five-bedroom flat in Adelaide Wharf in Whiston Street when the fire broke out shortly before 3am.

She was treated for head, leg and arm injuries before being taken to the Royal London hospital.

Around 20 firefighters from Kingsland, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Islington fire stations battled the blaze at the six-storey block for more than an hour after receiving a call at 2.50am.

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said that 25 per cent of the flat had been damaged in the incident.

The fire was on the patch of Kingsland Fire Station, which is due to close its doors permanently on January 9 as part of a cost-saving exercise by the London Fire Brigade.

Firefighters will be striking from 6.30pm to midnight this evening in a dispute over changes to their pensions. Under current proposals, firefighters face paying an increase to their pensions for the third year in a row with many facing a fourth consecutive rise in April.

There is also concern that two thirds of the current workforce could face either dismissal or a halving in pensions because they are unable to maintain fitness standards required beyond the age of 55.