Kentish Express Ashford & District
‘Injured are in our thoughts’
Cllr Gerry Clarkson, leader of Ashford Borough Council (ABC), said: “Clearly there’s been quite a lot of devastation there to the row of terraced houses and most of the roof is off and a number of the properties are severely damaged.
“Our thoughts at the moment go out to those that live there and the one or two who were seriously injured. They’re in our thoughts.
“We have already stepped in, as soon as we were notified, we immediately went into our emergency mode, we set up our emergency incident room. That was done by 4pm on the day of the incident.
“I’m particularly keen to make sure that those side of things work. In an earlier life I was chief fire officer of London, so I know the emergency services have their role to play in dealing with the incident.
“The council’s role is one of assisting the emergency services and other agencies and indeed assisting and taking responsibility for recovery; looking after our tenants and members of the public. This we’ve stepped in and done and we have temporary housing provision for those that need it. A number of the residents have gone to stay with friends and loved ones.
“As soon as we are able to retake possession of the properties once all the investigative work has been done, we will be in there to ensure that they are brought back in to proper habitable use as soon as possible.
“I am satisfied at the moment that ABC is stepping up to the plate to do all it can to deal with this incident in supporting the emergency services and more importantly, from out point of view, to deal with the recovery phase and ensure that we bring the whole thing back to normality as soon as possible.”
When asked if the explosion could have been prevented, he said: “The first things is that the issue of the cause will be a matter for the emergency services, both the police and fire will be investigating.
“It’s always unwise to prematurely speculate on cause but they will no doubt be looking at that very, very closely.”