A resident living at the East Bristol tower block that caught fire over the weekend has claimed that those living there get "completely ignored by the authorities". Mark Barrett, a fourth-floor resident at Twinnell House in Easton, described the fire which saw a man lose his life as "terrible" but said it was "a matter of time" until something like that happened.
A man died trying to escape the top floor fire and eight people are in hospital after a fire ripped through the block in the early hours of Sunday. Emergency services were called just after 2.15am to a fire on the top floor.
Around 90 residents were evacuated as a result of the fire, but many have since been able to return to their homes. Mr Barrett was one of the people to call the emergency services. Struggling to hold back tears, he said: “The council do not do anything here, they are the most useless and incompetent.
Read next: Residents describe 'chaotic' scenes as Easton tower block fire raged on
“They [Twinnell House residents] have been completely ignored by the authorities. They completely ignore anything that goes on in there.
“It was a matter of time until something like this happened, but you would have thought they would have learnt after the Grenfell disaster. They just do not care. I am shaken up, to see a man die like that. It is terrible.”
In 2019, Twinnell House made the headlines when Bristol Magistrates' Court granted a three-month closure for the tower block in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour. The order meant that communal areas were closed to anyone who was not a resident.
A residents’ meeting held at the time highlighted concerns around drugs misuse, noisy disturbances and repeated incidents of large groups of people loitering in communal areas and intimidating residents. The closure order application mentioned incidents including three drug-related warrants and the discovery of a rucksack in a communal area containing a 12-inch knife and class A drugs.
The following year, residents told BristolLive they were having to fend for themselves as drug dealers terrorised them. At the time, the council said the safety and security of all residents was a top priority for them and that they were working proactively with the police to explore other ways to tackle anti-social behaviour in and around Twinnell House.
What has happened now has exacerbated residents fears, with several saying they do not feel safe living in the tower block. Saed Abdi - a dad-of-four who ran inside the burning tower block to get his family out - is one of those residents who already felt unsafe.
Mr Abdi, who lives on a one-bedroom flat on the fourteenth floor, said: "I do not want to go back up there, I did not feel safe before this happened.
"It is no good living here, especially when you are a family and have kids. They should not house kids that high up, it is not safe.
"Imagine if the fire had broken out in the middle, we would have been stuck - it is lucky it happened on a top floor. A lot more people could have died, it is a miracle that only one person died - it could have been a lot worse if you think about it. This is an absolute failure from the council."
A 15th-floor resident, who has lived at Twinnell House for 21 years, said he was asleep at the time and got woken up by banging on his door. However, he said he decided not to open the door at first as he was worried it was someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs, adding they have had banging on their door in the middle of the night before.
The dad-of-two - who gave his name as A.G - said: "It is terrible, it is not safe. The lifts are not working most of the time, but they luckily were last night so I only had to walk down one floor. I have mobility problems so I would have found it nearly impossible to walk down all the stairs.
"I was fit when I moved in 21 years ago, but not anymore. It was very scary and I was very worried for our safety. You think more of your kids than yourself in a situation like that. I feel in a limbo now."
Another 15th-floor resident, who has lived at Twinnell House for less than two months, described Sunday's fire as "very scary". The man said that his wife fainted when they got to the street, adding she had to checked over by the ambulance service but didn't require hospital treatment.
"She is with friends now and I spent the night at the church," he added. "I do not think she will want to go back inside that flat after this, she is very scared. The property is no good, I do not like living here at all."
Another Twinnell House resident, who has lived in the block for 20 years, said he was asleep at the time and got woken up by banging on his door. "I feel anxious and worried, I do not feel safe living there," he said.
And a mum described being trapped in her flat with her three children as a fire raged on in another flat on her floor. The mum, who didn't wish to be named, lives on the sixteenth floor of Twinnell House. The mum said she was trapped inside her flat with her three children - including a five-month-old - for half an hour.
The resident also claimed she didn’t hear a fire alarm going off and, instead, she got woken up by her baby crying and smelt smoke. This claim of not hearing an alarm go off has been made by many residents at the scene.
The resident said she could hear banging on the corridor so she went to open her front door but that, when she tried to do so, she was confronted by "lots of smoke".
“I called the emergency services, we could not even open the front door because of the amount of smoke,” she said. “It was terrifying. The fire brigade eventually came to get us, but there was lots of smoke by this point.”
The resident - who has lived in the tower block for three years - claimed that she is disabled, and that so are two of her children. She said she feels the property is not suitable for them, but has been unable to move.
Bristol City Council was approached for comment.
Read more:
- Easton tower block fire updates: Man dead and eight in hospital after blaze
- Pictures and video from the scene of blaze
- Man who died in Bristol flat fire fell from top floor trying to escape the blaze
- Dad living at Easton tower block ran inside burning building to get his family out
Mum was 'trapped' inside burning tower block with her three children
