Residents in an east London tower block have said they raised fire safety concerns with management before a huge blaze erupted.
Firefighters rushed to the Relay Building in Whitechapel High Street at around 4pm on Monday after a fire broke out in a flat on the 17th floor.
At least 20 fire engines and 125 firefighters tackled the huge blaze, with around 60 people evacuated from the high-rise building.
Twenty fire engines are now at the scene of the #Whitechapel fire which is in a block of flats and offices. Our Control Officers have taken more than 50 calls to the blaze © @dinglebobs https://t.co/wyMmpNeYbp pic.twitter.com/ijiW2WNOg8
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) March 7, 2022
Dramatic footage shared on social media showed parts of the building ravaged by orange flames as debris falls off the side.
Several residents have said they didn’t hear any fire alarms beeping and were instead alerted to the incident by neighbours.
Andrew Meikle, 58, said residents had complained several times about both the alarms and the “stay put” policy to the three companies that manage the building – John D Wood, Network Homes and Rendall and Rittner.
Mr Meikle, who has lived in the 22-storey building for about five years, said: “There have been complaints about fire alarms, the ‘stay put’ policy and the high risk of fires on the wooden balconies, and guess what was burning today? The wooden balconies.”
As there is three different companies managing different parts of the building, he said there was a “scrambled” chain of communication when it came to dealing with their complaints.
Mr Meikle said there had been previous small fires including one in December where the fire alarms were also not heard.
“When the “stay put” policy fails alarms should be put in to tell people to get out,” he said.
“Why is someone running around banging on doors saying ‘get out, get out get out’ or a WhatsApp group telling the residents that there is a fire, the evacuation process we had?”
Younus Hussein, 61, who lives on the seventh floor of the building, said he also did not hear an alarm.
“If I did not hear the persistent knocks of my neighbours, I would probably still be asleep,” he said.
On the building in general, he said: “There are consistent problems with electricity, flooding, the alarms.”
“For the last eight weeks I have had no electricity in my bathroom,” Mr Hussein said, adding that he has been back and forth with Network Housing about how it is not simply a matter of changing the lightbulb.
Lynn Ling, a London School of Economics student who lives on the 20th floor with her husband Yuri, said the whole incident has been “very scary”.
Ms Ling said she was alerted to the fire by a friend who FaceTimed her from the street at about 4:30pm.
She said: “I did not hear an alarm.
“I think there was a fire alarm on the ground floor but I could not hear it clearly on the 20th.
“I went out of my door but I found there was smoke in the corridor so I went downstairs.
“I forgot to take my coat.
“It was very scary.”
She added that a fireman in the 19th floor was knocking on people’s doors to tell them to leave.
“He said: ‘Don’t be scared’.
“They were trying to protect us.” she added.
Speaking to residents who had gathered at The Corner cafe on Whitechapel Road following the fire, Richard Tapp, borough commander at Tower Hamlets, said the building was “structurally sound”.
He told the residents that the fire was “all but extinguished” but debris like glass was still unstable.
In a statement, Network Homes’ chief executive Helen Evans said: “We are thankful that everyone is safe following the fire on the 17th floor of the Crawford Building in Whitechapel, on Monday.
“The fire that took place yesterday did not affect any of our residents’ flats directly although three have had some water damage to their homes.
“All other residents were able to return to their homes last night. Our team were onsite during the incident and into Monday evening, and have been onsite today meeting residents to offer further support. We are also writing to all residents with an update today and will continue to offer support where needed.
“Network Homes is not the freeholder of this building. We are the head lessee of 70 flats across floors 7-11 which are a mix of tenanted, shared ownership and leasehold homes.
“Responsibility for the building and balconies is with the freeholder. The building has a stay put policy and like all other residential buildings with a stay put policy, under current fire regulations it does not have a fire alarm.
“We have been and remain in active discussion with the freeholder’s managing agents about fire safety measures including removal and replacement of timber balcony decking.”
John D Wood and Rendall and Rittner have been contacted for comment.
