Residents of a high-rise building in east London said they had complained about the fire alarms and “stay put” policy before a major fire broke out there on Monday.
The London fire brigade (LFB) was called to the Relay Building in Whitechapel High Street shortly before 4pm after a fire started in a 17th-floor flat.
At least 20 fire engines and 125 firefighters tackled the blaze, while footage showed flames pouring out of the building and debris falling off the side. LFB said a woman was trapped by the blaze and firefighters rescued her using a fire escape hood.
A number of residents have said they could not hear any fire alarms sounding during the incident and were alerted to the fire by word of mouth.
A spokesperson for Rendall & Rittner, which is responsible for managing the internal common parts of the building, said no audible alarms were used in the building and the “stay put” policy was agreed by relevant authorities.
Andrew Meikle, 58, who has lived in the 22-storey building for about five years, said the residents had complained several times about the alarms and the “stay put” policy to Rendall & Rittner and the other two companies that manage the building: John D Wood and Network Homes.
He 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.”
He added that with three different companies managing different parts of the building, there was a “scrambled” chain of communication when it came to their complaints.
Younus Hussein, 61, who lives on the seventh floor of the building, said he also did not hear any alarm. “If I did not hear the persistent knocks of my neighbours, I would probably still be asleep,” he said.
Lynn Ling, a London School of Economics student from China who lives on the 20th floor with her husband, Yuri, said the whole incident has been “very scary”. Ling, who was wearing a silver security blanket because she forgot her coat in the scramble to evacuate, 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.”
Rachel, from Nottinghamshire, who did not want to give her last name, said she was staying at a friend’s flat on the 10th floor of the block in Whitechapel as she visited London to celebrate her 50th birthday. She said she put her head out into the corridor and heard a young boy scream: “Get out, there’s a fire.” She added: “If it had not been for him I would have had no idea there was a fire. There was no alarm on the 10th floor.”
A spokesperson for Network Homes said: “We’re pleased to see everyone has been safely evacuated from the building. As soon as we became aware of the situation we sent a team to the building to provide support to residents, and they remained on site into the evening.
“Network Homes is a leaseholder of 75 flats across floors 7-11 of this building. Overall responsibility for the building lies with the freeholder, and we actively engage with their managing agent on fire safety measures.”
Rendall & Rittner said: “We are working alongside the manager of the building fabric, the landlord and the London fire brigade to ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents and occupants.
“The fire strategy for floors 12-21 is a ‘stay put’ policy which is an engineered principle based on the construction of the building and the mitigating measures and arrangements agreed with the relevant authorities.
“This means a smoke ventilation system will activate, but there are no audible alarms in apartments and common areas. It is for the fire brigade to decide on whether the building needs full or partial evacuation depending on the situation they find on arrival.”
John D Wood has been contacted for comment.
