London Fire Safety Concerns Spread

London Fire Safety Concerns Spread
An apartment inside Grenfell Tower in north Kensington is seen in a handout picture released by the Metropolitan Police in London, Britain on June 18, 2017. (Metropolitan Police Handout via Reuters)
Reuters
6/26/2017
Updated:
6/26/2017

Sixty high-rise buildings in England have now failed fire safety tests.

Six-hundred are being examined across the country, with failures already recorded in 25 areas.

The British government ordered the tests in the wake of the Grenfell tower block fire that killed at least 79 people in London earlier this month.

Police say the fatal blaze began in a fridge-freezer unit but spread rapidly due to the external cladding on the building.

That has since failed all safety tests.

And prompted a nationwide review of the materials used on everything from apartment buildings to hospitals and hotels.

Several tower blocks in north London have already been evacuated as a result.

On Friday (June 23), some four-thousand residents on the Chalcots Estate were given just hours to pack their bags, and leave.

The decision to evacuate residents has been supported by top political figures, including Prime Minister Theresa May.

She was forced to apologise for the government’s initially slow response to the Grenfell tragedy.

And says authorities are now racing to establish what needs to be done.

The insurance industry saying it warned ministers of the dangers of flammable cladding in May.

Stating it had been calling for a review of building fire-safety regulations since 2009.

Police are considering manslaughter charges over the blaze.