Four-hour checks on homes in alert over ‘Grenfell’ cladding
Firefighters step in as residents are warned their buildings are ‘high risk’
FIREFIGHTERS are so worried about a Scots building found to have Grenfell-style cladding that they are checking it every four hours.
Residents of Castlebank Drive in the Glasgow Harbour development also have two fire wardens on the site round the clock.
Homeowners received letters telling them cladding in lift areas and the roof could be similar to that used in Grenfell Tower in London, where 80 people died in an inferno in June.
Council contractors last week removed samples of cladding for testing.
One resident of the flats said they have now been told the cladding in their property has been identified as high risk.
They said: “The cladding in my block and one other has no fire resistance at all.
“We now have two 24-hour fire wardens, four-hourly visits from fire brigade and a huge amount of parking attendants ensuring that access is clear.
“I would’ve thought the emergency should have been immediately after Grenfell – not four months later.”
David McGown, of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said two properties had been identified by Glasgow City Council as raising concerns.
He added: “As part of a package of reassurance measures, firefighters are conducting regular site visits at both these properties.
“Our community action teams are also offering residents free home fire safety visits.”
Aluminium composite material cladding became notorious after the Grenfell fire on June 14.
It was thought to have played a part in the rapid spread of the blaze.
Last month, a senior Glasgow City Council official revealed that a survey done in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire identified combustible cladding on privately owned flats in the city,
Raymond Barlow, assistant head of planning and building standards, admitted the council had not made the information public.
SNP council leader Susan Aitken later apologised for not telling homeowners and tenants about the concerns sooner.
Labour’s housing spokeswoman and Glasgow MSP Pauline McNeill said: “People will be stunned that one of the properties in the cladding controversy is of such concern to the fire service that it is checked several times a day, especially when Glasgow City Council took so long to even inform the fire service there were properties in the city clad in material similar to that on Grenfell.”