Nationwide fire-safety probe ordered in Great Britain

LONDON — Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday ordered an investigation into cladding and insulation on high-rise towers across the country, as authorities struggled to contain the risk from construction materials that leave tall structures vulnerable to catastrophic fires.

The government announced that 95 buildings, in 32 areas, had used cladding and insulation similar to those installed at Grenfell Tower, the West London apartment building that was consumed by flames on June 14 in Britain’s deadliest fire in decades. At least 79 people died. All 95 buildings fell short in safety tests — “a 100 percent failure rate,” according to a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May. Hundreds of other tall buildings are still being tested.

The cladding on the 95 buildings will almost certainly have to be replaced. Such work has already begun on a complex of towers in the Salford area near Manchester. Last week, the London borough of Camden ordered the evacuation of 4,000 residents of a five-tower complex, Chalcots Estate, where the buildings are covered in the same flammable cladding used on Grenfell Tower.

Anxiety about the building materials appeared to be spreading to other countries, even though the United States and most countries in Europe had restrictions on the kind of cladding used on Grenfell Tower. The German city of Wuppertal on Tuesday evacuated about 80 people from an 11-story apartment tower “for fire safety reasons” after “flammable material was found,” a local official said.

Arconic, the U.S. company that sold the combustible material used at the London housing project, said Monday that it no longer would sell the paneling for use in high-rises. On Tuesday, the company’s stock dropped 9 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, and it is down 21 percent since the fire.

Whirlpool, which in 2014 acquired the manufacturer of the faulty refrigerator that started the fire, has urged owners of the fridge model to check their units.