Residents feared ‘another Grenfell’ at sign of fire

RESIDENTS OF a London block of flats were alerted to a fire in their building a year on from the Grenfell Tower disaster by screaming onlookers when there was no alarm.

Alix Mabon, 25, praised the bravery of three teenagers who drew her attention to the blaze in the 20-storey tower block before running up the stairs knocking on doors.

She said: “The first thought that came into my head was, ‘Oh my God, it’s Grenfell. We’re going to be the next Grenfell’.”

About 150 people were evacuated from Roma Corte in Lewisham as firefighters arrived, along with police and ambulance staff, after they were called at 4.15am yesterday. London Fire Brigade said a sprinkler system “suppressed” the fire, which was contained and extinguished in a flat on the 13th floor. The cause is under investigation.

Residents praised the response of the emergency services, but said they were worried by the lack of an alarm.

Christoph Mayr, 32, said: “We’re on the top floor and woke up because there was shouting outside, so went out on the balcony, and people in the building opposite were screaming, ‘fire, fire’.

“We didn’t see anything, but they started pointing and shouted, ‘you, it’s in your block, get out of the building’. We started running down the stairs and banged on doors as we were going down.”

The artist manager said he did not want to compare the fire to the Grenfell blaze that killed 72 people, but asked how, in the aftermath of the tragedy, there could be a high-rise building without working fire alarms.