Grenfell fire warning a year earlier

OFFICAL warnings about the lack of fire safety at Grenfell Tower were issued a year before the blaze that killed 7 residents, it emerged last night.

Dozens of failings were discovered during assessments by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

Warnings were issued to the West London tower block’s management in June

016 with deadlines for action. Four months later, the authority wrote to the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation asking why nothing had been done to improve the 0 problem areas it identified. A notice was served in November 016, identifying failures to be addressed by May 017, one month before the fire. A separate assessment in June

016, after the block was refurbished, recommended action on more than 40 ‘high risk’ issues within two to three weeks.

The two safety audits identified problems with fire doors and questioned whether refurbishment had affected the smoke venting system and fire lift controls, according to documents seen by ITV.

They are the first evidence that the landlords knew there were dire problems at Grenfell which they were legally required to act on.

Kensington and Chelsea council said: ‘This will be a matter for the public inquiry and to comment further could risk prejudicing the ongoing police investigation.’