Dagenham fire investigation will be complex, says fire chief

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Dagenham ***** investigation will be complex, says ***** chief

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London ***** Brigade Commissioner Andy Roe told reporters that parts of the building remain inaccessible

The investigation into the Dagenham ***** is likely to be protracted and complex, with parts of the building still inaccessible because of safety fears, London ***** Brigade’s commissioner has said.

Speaking from the scene, Andy Roe said firefighters had faced a “very significant building ********” and that the investigation would be an “absolute priority” for the service over the coming weeks.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the BBC that, seven years on from the Grenfell *****, work to improve the ***** safety on buildings across the country was “still too slow”.

More than 100 people were evacuated from the block in Dagenham, east London, and two people taken to hospital, after a ***** broke out in the early hours of Monday morning.

The exact cause of Monday’s ***** and its spread ******** unclear. According to a

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post from a contractor last week, the building’s “non-compliant” cladding was in the process of being removed.

Commissioner Roe said the ***** service had begun a “full and detailed investigation” in collaboration with the police.

“However, due to the extensive damage to the building, with parts of it now being declared unsafe to access, it is difficult to make entry in there to do that investigation,” he said.

“That means it is likely to be protracted and our ***** investigation and ***** safety officers are likely to be on-scene for many days.”

He added that the ***** service was engaged with government to ensure ***** safety standards were maintained but faced a “challenge” when trying to hold the owners of buildings to account.

He said there were still 1,300 buildings in London with ***** safety issues and that it was the responsibility of their owners to make sure their safety systems were functioning properly.

Deputy PM: There is still far too much cladding on these buildings

The Grenfell ***** in 2017, which ******* 72 people, brought the issue of ***** safety to wider public attention.

Concerns focused in particular on cladding that had been added to the exterior of the building and which enabled the ***** to spread.

Government figures show that, of 4,600 buildings subsequently identified as having cladding that was potentially unsafe, only 50% have had work to replace it either started or completed.

Also speaking from Dagenham, Ms Rayner said that that work “has to be sped up”.

“There is responsibilities on… the people that own the buildings, but there’s also work that we’ve put in to make sure there is the funds available to get this remediation work done,” she said.

“And we’ve got to make sure that the regulators are pushing that agenda, because we still have far too many buildings that have got this cladding on that needs to be removed.

“There’s a responsibility to make sure that that’s removed as quickly as possible.”

She added that it was “incredible that nobody was seriously injured” in the Dagenham ***** and that the government was working with the local council to ensure affected residents “have somewhere to go and a roof over their heads”.

Barking and Dagenham Council has said the building affected by Monday’s ***** was privately-owned, but that it was working to provide support to residents.

“Together with our partners, we have provided access to essential services, including emergency accommodation to residents who are unable to return home and have nowhere to stay,” it said.

“Working with housing providers, we’ll continue to support residents to secure longer term accommodation.”

The concerns about long-running ***** safety issues were echoed by Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the ***** Brigades Union.

He told the BBC his union had been warning about such issues since before Grenfell and that the “pace of change is too slow”.

“We don’t know the scale of that ******** here. But it seems to me that people are not taking ***** safety in residential buildings seriously enough,” he said.

“We’ve got a new government, and I hope that they will sit up and take notice and work with us… to correct this.”

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#Dagenham #***** #investigation #complex #***** #chief

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