Camden Council discovered fire safety defects in Chalcots estate blocks yesterday, which along with the discovery of unsafe cladding similar to that installed on Grenfell Tower, led an estimated 4,000 people to be evacuated from more than 700 homes last night with little or no notice.
A 72-year-old woman says she was forced to sit in a chair all night after being evacuated from her London tower block over safety fears.
Meanwhile, Camden Council confirmed that cladding used on its Chalcots Estate in north London is being removed after tests raised concerns about its safety.
"Grenfell changes everything and I don't believe we can take any risks", said Georgia Gould, leader of the Camden Council local authority, told reporters, as residents left the five Chalcots Estate towers.
In an update early Saturday, Camden Council said they had secured "hundreds of hotel beds for Chalcots' residents".
Meanwhile, the national government said that cladding samples from 27 high-rise apartment blocks in 15 areas had failed fire safety tests.
"I know some residents are angry and upset, but I want to be very clear that Camden Council acted to protect them".
The evacuation comes as local authorities around Britain scramble to assess the safety of high-rise apartment blocks.
"I know it's hard but Grenfell changes everything", Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, said in a statement.
"I know it's hard, but Grenfell changes everything and I just don't believe we can take any risk with our residents' safety and I have to put them first".
"However, we are doing what we can to ensure residents in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire feel safe in their homes and know what to do in the event of a fire". Numerous buildings at issue are social housing blocks whose occupants complain of longstanding neglect by the authorities.
Trump labors to make Mueller-Comey tie a key talking point
Trump, according to his advisers, had become enormously frustrated that Comey would not say so publicly. Trump and Comey spoke several times , both in person and on the phone.
Croydon Council is thought to have been one of the first in the country to announce it was installing sprinklers in all of its tower blocks this week.
Harley Facades Limited was subcontracted by main contractor Rydon Maintenance Limited, to install the cladding on the Grenfell Tower during a refurbishment which finished last summer on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea TMO, which manages the block for the local council.
(AP Photo/Alastair Grant). Residents are evacuated from the Taplow residential tower block on the Chalcots Estate, in the borough of Camden, north London, Friday, June 23, 2017. Residents fled their homes, then waited helpless in the streets for hours as friends, neighbours and children who went to school with their own burned to death. "There's no organization and it's chaos", she added.
More than 80 residents have refused to leave their homes.
When the refrigerator on the fourth floor burst into flames, the fire ignited the flammable cladding and shot up the side of the building.
Police are considering manslaughter charges among the criminal offenses that may have been committed at Grenfell Tower, they said Friday.
The Metropolitan Police said cladding attached to the 24-storey public housing project during a recent renovation failed safety tests conducted by investigators, and they had seized documents from a number of organisations.
Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack was asked on Friday whether the insulation and aluminium tiles used on Grenfell were acceptable for such buildings.
THE council is working with the fire service to investigate all buildings with cladding in the county, following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Hotpoint said Friday that "words can not express our sorrow at this awful tragedy" and added it was working with authorities to examine the appliance.
May encouraged the owners of both public and private tower blocks around the country to quickly forward samples of any similar material for testing.
Comments