Dagenham fire: Residents describe escape after homes evacuated from tower block engulfed by flames
A tower block in east London caught fire in the early hours of bank holiday Monday. It was covered in “non-compliant cladding” and more than 80 people, including children, have been evacuated. Another 20 were rescued. The Mayor of London has urged people to avoid the area.
Firefighters have rescued 20 people from a burning tower block after it was engulfed in flames.
More than 200 firefighters took part in a “significant search and rescue operation” which involved more than 80 people, including children, being evacuated from their homes.
A further 20 people were said to have been rescued by firefighters after what they described as a “significant building failure”.
The fire service said the blaze engulfed the whole building, including scaffolding surrounding the property and the roof.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Patrick Goulbourne added that everyone had been accounted for and the fire was under control.
The block, described as a mixed-use residential and commercial building, was known to have “a number of fire safety issues”, according to the London Fire Brigade, and was covered in “non-compliant” cladding.
Scaffolding surrounding the building was in place to remove the cladding and a fire enforcement notice issued last year highlighted concerns inspectors had at the time.
An investigation into the fire has begun, and will examine what role, if any, the cladding played.
When asked by reporters at the scene “how big a part did cladding play” in the fire, and how close the incident was to a “bigger disaster”, Mr Goulbourne said: “What I wouldn’t want to do is pre-empt an investigation.
“This was a very, very dynamic incident, and clearly it’s going to require a very complex investigation, not only to get to its cause, but to get to an understanding of the fire spread – so it’s it’s too early at this time to be able to give any detail on that, but that will form part of our investigation in the coming days.”
Meanwhile, 70 firefighters were sent to a second fire across London, in Blackwall.
Half of a flat and a balcony on the 25th floor of a 45-storey building were burning, producing a large amount of smoke.
‘Major incident’ in Dagenham
Plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the sky in Dagenham as 45 fire engines and 225 firefighters responded overnight and into the morning.
Emergency services were called at around 2.44am and the first crews arrived at the tower block within five minutes.
Four patients were treated at the scene, and two were taken to hospital, the London Ambulance Service said.
EYEWITNESS: THE TIME FOR ANSWERS WILL COME, BUT HELP IS MORE URGENT
By Matthew Thompson, home and political correspondent, reporting from Dagenham for Sky News
As we arrived first thing this morning, the fire was smouldering, but it was a mere shadow of the inferno that had engulfed the building a few hours before.
Many residents fled with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
Those who have nowhere else to go have been moved to a leisure centre a mile or so away.
There, amid a mass of water bottles, foil blankets and plastic plates, families are huddled, shell-shocked, and facing an uncertain future.
Drilon Nezaj, carrying his 17-month-old daughter in his arms, told me his flat was directly above the source of the fire.
He’d been at a friend’s house for dinner when the baby had fallen asleep, so they decided to stay the night. “She saved our lives,” he said.
Another woman, Kasia, said she awoke in the night to “flames climbing up to our balcony”.
She and her partner got out, with their dog. But fighting back tears, she told me her flat is “all gone. The only thing I can think of is we’re safe. The rest can be replaced. We got out, luckily.”
The building itself has known fire safety issues.
It was in the process of having dangerous flammable cladding removed when the fire broke out.
There may well be a time for recriminations.
But for now, there are scores of people, many with young children, who need help, and somewhere to sleep.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. Emergency services had declared a “major incident”, which has since been stood down.
One local said they heard people “screaming” from their home a few hundred yards from the building as it caught fire overnight.
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