Student flats blaze is awful echo of Grenfell
A GRENFELL-style blaze that tore through the cladding of a six-storey student block led fire chiefs last night to call for urgent nationwide action ‘before it’s too late’.
Students were evacuated as about 200 firefighters fought the flames engulfing The Cube residential block in Bolton on Friday evening.
One young woman was rescued by firefighters on an aerial platform and two students were treated at the scene for minor injuries. About 200 students were evacuated and there were claims that some fire alarms failed to work.
As an investigation was launched, the leader of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) condemned the ‘complete failure of the UK’s fire safety system’.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham demanded action from Boris Johnson to give ‘peace of mind’ to residents of cladded tower blocks.
The PM visited the scene and hailed the ‘incredible response’ from the community after donations of food, clothing and toiletries poured in.
As investigators examined the scene, which bore shocking echoes of the Grenfell Tower disaster of 2017, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: ‘This terrible fire highlights the complete failure of the UK’s fire safety system. It’s deeply troubling to see fire spread rapidly up a building’s exterior again – a shocking indictment of the Government’s shameful inaction after Grenfell.
‘We need to end the deregulation agenda and the disastrous cuts to our fire and rescue service.’
Safety experts had repeatedly warned about the type of cladding – high-pressure laminate (HPL) used on the block. It burns 115 times hotter than fire-resistant options.
It also emerged that Urban Student Life, which manages The Cube, was suspended for a year in 2016 from a nationwide code for building standards after one of its blocks in Leeds was found not fit for use by the fire authority. The company declined to comment last night.
George Holmes, vice-chancellor of Bolton University, said it would work with the fire authority to check the safety of all student accommodation.
One witness, Ace Love, 35, said the fire ‘kept getting more intense, climbing up and to the right because the wind was blowing so hard’.