Twenty flats were destroyed and another 10 have been damaged after a fire engulfed a building in east London.
The blaze spread over six floors of the block of flats in De Pass Gardens, Barking, at about 15:30 BST, London Fire Brigade said.
About 100 firefighters worked for more than two hours to subdue the fire, which was extinguished at 18:00. The cause is being investigated.
Resident Mihaela Gheorghe said she had “raised several issues” about the safety of wooden balconies on the blocks of flats.
She added: “I was in my fourth-floor flat when the fire started. We ran out. The fire brigade came but they found it hard to find a water supply at first.”
“We said that one day a fire is going to happen.
“We raised several issues to the builder, the maintenance companies and the council about the safety of having all these wooden balconies.”
The speed in which this fire in #barking spread was crazy! Nothing learned from #Grenfell #barkingfire pic.twitter.com/5mdceE4pAS
— MARAJA (@MARAJA_7) June 9, 2019
Mukhtar Raja, who lives nearby, said he saw flames when he looked out of his window.
“The heat was unbearable and it was spreading so fast. I went outside and filmed the footage with my phone.
“The fact it was a tall building and the speed at which the fire was spreading was scary.”
“The speed in which this fire in #barking spread was crazy! Nothing learned from #Grenfell #barkingfire
Grenfell Tower two years on.
On 14 June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London just before 1:00 am BST; it caused 72 deaths, including those of two victims who later died in hospital. More than 70 others were injured and 223 people escaped. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. The fire is currently being investigated by the police, a public inquiry and coroner’s inquests.
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