Manslaughter charges eyed in Grenfell Tower blaze
Five other buildings evacuated because of cladding issues; ‘Grenfell changes everything’
LONDON— Hundreds of families were being evacuated from apartments in five London highrise buildings Friday evening after fire inspectors told local officials that the safety of the residents could not be guaranteed.
The five buildings in Camden in North London all have exterior cladding and insulation similar to that used on a London highrise, Grenfell Tower, where at least 79 people are believed to have died in a fire last week. The police said Friday that the cladding material had failed safety tests conducted by investigators.
Residents of more than 800 apartments in the five highrises were being relocated while the problems are addressed, the council said.
“I’ve made the really difficult decision of moving the people living there into temporary accommodation,” Georgia Gould, the head of Camden Council, said in a statement. “I know it’s going to be difficult, but Grenfell changes everything. I just don’t believe that we can take any risks with our residents’ safety, and I just have to put them first.”
The council said in a statement the cladding material would be removed from the five highrises, located on the Chalcots housing estate.
Officials confirmed Friday the Grenfell blaze began with a faulty refrigerator and that it was not started intentionally.
But the high death toll at the 24storey Grenfell Tower in West London has prompted the authorities to consider charges of manslaughter, along with other criminal offences, said Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack, who is overseeing the investigation.
McCormack did not indicate who might face manslaughter charges.
At least 11 buildings in Britain use combustible cladding material similar to that used on Grenfell Tower, officials said Thursday, and safety checks are being carried out on cladding from at least 600 highrise buildings across the country.
The appliance that started the fire was a Hotpoint FF175BP refrigerator and freezer, McCormack added. She said that the model had never been subject to a recall, and that tests were being carried out to determine if it now should be.
In a statement posted online, Hotpoint said it was aware of a “possible incident” involving one of its products, and it asked its customers to check if they had bought models FF175BP or FF175BG made from March 2006 to July 2009. Consumers who had were asked to contact the company.