By Sammie Jones -
The investigation into the Greenfell fire must leave no stones unturned, residents of the West London fire have said in an open leter to Theresa May on Tuesday.
The emphatic letter comes after it was revealed cladding from 95 towers in 32 local authority areas in England had failed fire safety tests – all of the samples submitted after the Grenfell Tower fire.”It must identify each and every individual and organisation who must bear responsibility and accountability for this tragedy and the mishandling of the aftermath.
Newly released Home Office statistics shows that tower block fires were at their lowest before the Greenfell disaster. There were 714 fires in purpose-built blocks of 10 storeys or more in England in the 12 months to April – compared with 1,261 fires in 2009-10.
Of those high-rise fires last year, 56 spread further than the “room of origin” and three people died, compared with 12 fatalities in 2009-12
“It must identify each and every individual and organisation who must bear responsibility and accountability for this tragedy and the mishandling of the aftermath.
“There must be swift recommendations to ensure there can be no chance of a repeat of this disaster elsewhere, the poignant letter states.
Bereaved families and survivors needed time to recover and grieve – “not least in view of the paucity of support they have been afforded by the state and its agencies in the immediate aftermath”.
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The blaze, believed to have started in a fridge-freezer, destroyed 151 homes in the north Kensington block and in the surrounding area of the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
HALT
Hotspot, the firm that supplied Grenfell Tower’s cladding has halted its sales of the producTs for use in high-rise blocks. Officials from several councils across the UK including Caden, Waltham Forest, Newham, Southwark, Scotland and many parts of the North, have taking urgent action to address tower blocks with similar claddings to that which caused the disaster in Greenfell. Residents of some tower blocks have been asked to leave their homes to avoid a similar disaster.The level of combustibility used in the cladding for tower blocks was not clear, according to some council officials. However, the investigation will look into what was expected of those deemed culpable and judge them accordingly.
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