Britain finds 34 high-rises with unsafe siding, authorities say

LONDON — Britain’s fire-safety crisis expanded substantially Saturday as authorities said 34 highrise apartment blocks across the country had cladding that failed fire safety tests.

London officials scrambled to evacuate four public housing towers after experts found them “not safe for people to sleep in overnight.”

The evacuation comes amid widening worries about the safety of highrise apartment blocks across the country following the inferno that engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on June 14, killing at least 79 people.

Attention has focused on the 24-story tower’s external cladding material, which has been blamed for the rapid spread of that blaze, but multiple other fire risks have now been identified in some housing blocks.