The Nursing and Midwidfery Council (NMC) has been forced to close its Kemble Street and Aldwych offices after an electrical fire broke out on Kingsway in Holborn, London yesterday.

Some 5,000 people were evacuated from nearby buildings yesterday and many buildings remained shut today as the fire continued to blaze.

A statement from NMC said “some operations” may be affected by the closure.

“This may affect our fitness to practise work. It may not be possible to get through to some staff, such as case officers, on the phone or by email,” the statement said.

NMC is a registered charity and regulator for some 670,000 registered nurses and midwives. It ranks number 74 in Charity Finance's Charity 100 Index 2015.

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said the fire was still burning beneath the pavement this morning, according to a BBC report.

LFB assistant commissioner Peter Cowup said: "This has been a technically difficult incident to tackle.. The service tunnel is hard to reach… the complexity of the tunnel layout means that it will be some time until the fire is fully extinguished," he said.

NMC said staff could access emails remotely and urged them to make contact with a manager if they were unaware of changes to arrangements as a result of the fire. Hearings taking place at the Aldwych office have been re-located to other venues, the statement said.

More than 20 fire fighters were still at the scene this morning and road closures to Kingsway, the Strand Underpass, Waterloo Bridge and Southampton Row are limiting access to the area.

In a BBC London radio interview this morning, inspector Neil Johnson, from the Met Police said: "I imagine this road will be closed a long time after this is finished because of damage the heat does to the road. It will have to remain closed until a structural engineer examines it properly and either he or she says what work has to be done and that work is completed - this is not an overnight job."