CAMDEN COUNCIL TO EVACUATE 161 HOUSEHOLDS FROM TOWERS

CAMDEN COUNCIL TO EVACUATE 161 HOUSEHOLDS FROM TOWER



A London council is immediately evacuating more than 800 households from tower blocks clad in a similar combustible material to Grenfell after firefighters said they 'could not guarantee resident safety'.

Some 4,000 people were evacuated from the Chalcots Estate in Camden tonight and placed in temporary accommodation, hotels or with family.

Shocked residents claimed they were only told at 8.30pm that they would have to leave their homes for up to three weeks while 'urgent fire safety works' were carried out.



Five blocks on the estate have similar exterior plastic panels to those fitted to the 24-storey Grenfell Tower.

The cheap cladding on Grenfell Tower was blamed for the fire spreading from one fourth floor flat and engulfing the entire building in the early hours of June 14.

Camden is the first London borough to evacuate buildings in the wake of the tragedy. However, residents complained they were given little notice about the evacuation and some were sent to a 'rescue centre' full of airbeds.

Speaking to journalists in north London council leader Georgia Gould said: At the end of today [the fire brigade] told us that they could not guarantee resident safety in those blocks so I have made the difficult decision to move the people living there into temporary accommodation while we do the urgent works to guarantee safety.

'I know it is difficult but Grenfell changes everything and I just don't believe we can take any risks with our residents safety and I have to put them first.'

Camden Council leaders yesterday met angry residents who raised a number of fire safety concerns.



After London Fire Brigade inspected the building it was decided that residents would be 'temporarily decanted' while 'urgent' fire safety works were done.

Some 4,000 people were given just a couple of hours notice that they would be moving out of their homes on Friday night.

Elderly resident Shirley Phillipos, who lives in the Taplow block, said those living in the towers had been told to get out tonight with 'no notice'.

She told Sky News: 'This is ridiculous. The only time I was told something was when I brought myself down the stairs.

'I've been told it's to do with the gas pipes on the landings. That's all they said.

'We've been told we'll be out for two to four weeks.

'I'm going over to the leisure centre and they've told me they'll find me somewhere to go.

'I've been told to get a little bag together. I've got some underwear, some dog food, a night gown - I haven't got anything else.

The woman, who lives on the second floor, continued: 'I think it's absolutely disgusting. We've had fire brigade here all day, Camden Council, police.

'I had a fire safety check done today, why have they left it til half past eight at night to start getting residents out?

'Where do they think we're all going? This is a massive tower block. They've started evacuating. Where are we all going?'

Many people said they did not know what was going on and had not had clear instructions from the council.

Police, Camden Council staff and fire officers were seen milling around the foot of the Taplow and Burnham blocks.

Edward Strange, 47, who lives on the 11th floor of the Taplow block was one of the first to be evacuated.

He going visit his sister in Salisbury with daughter Emily, nine, when he heard the flats were being evacuated.



Mr Strange, who has owned his flat since 2007, said he was told to go and register at the community centre but does not know where he will be staying tonight.

He said: 'We weren't told anything - I heard it on the news when I was driving, I was going to my sister's for the weekend but we came back when we heard we were being evacuated. I've gone into the building now and they've told us to go to the community centre where we'll be allocated accommodation, so I'm a bit anxious about that.

'What is the accommodation going to be? I have absolutely no idea. I also don't know about the amount of time we're going to be there.

'They have told us we can get back in to collect our belongings which is reassuring to some extent but the whole thing is a bit of a nightmare really. I don't know if it's just this block or all of them, I don't know, I've only just heard it on the news

'They sent us a letter this afternoon telling us that the cladding hadn't passed the safety standards but we're not worried because we've had two fires in here and they didn't spread, so we feel completely safe and I think it's a complete overreaction. The two fires were since the cladding has been on, and they were contained.'

Fuming residents shouted at council officers amid the confusion, with one irate woman telling a high-vis wearing member of staff to 'f**k off'.



He was told all the blocks were being evacuated by a member of t