Barrie Clement reports on another cladding blaze that could have ended in tragedy
The call came through at 2.44am. Darren Placid, sub-officer at Romford fire station in east London, thought it sounded fairly routine. There was a fire outside a high rise building in nearby Dagenham.
There was a nursery on the ground floor, but mercifully at that time of the morning it would be empty. When Darren and his four-strong crew neared the blaze about 10 minutes after getting the call, it became clear that the incident was far more serious than originally thought.
Three pumps were on their way initially to join the Dagenham appliance, but that soon rose to 10 and quickly to 20. A major incident was declared. One side of the Spectrum building in Freshwater Road was free of fire, but thick black smoke billowed from the other side and it was fully ablaze on the top few floors.
“It felt like it was raining fire,” said Darren. “Embers were flying everywhere.” One of the officers from the Ilford station used a loud hailer to tell people to get out of the building. “If you can evacuate, evacuate,” he shouted. “If you can’t, we’ll come and get you.”
TERRIFYING
One of those who managed to escape was BBC journalist Paul Cusiac, who was woken at about 2.45 am to see “fiery orange flames” engulfing his bedroom window. “It was one of the most terrifying times of my life. I started coughing and I was aware that many people who die in fires, die of smoke inhalation.”
He fled his flat, leaving the building amid a shower of blazing embers and sparks. “I was wearing everything I owned in the world. Just two T shirts.” He added: “I have nothing but praise for firefighters.
The values of our society are all wrong when people in the financial sector receive vast pay packets, while the people who really matter like firefighters are undervalued.” The fire has left him, and all the other residents, in a homeless limbo, “but I’m alive and I came very close to dying”.
More than 80 people escaped, while 20 more were rescued by firefighters. Two people were taken to hospital, but thankfully no-one died. All those present that night, including Darren, could not help but remember the Grenfell Tower disaster.
They also recalled the findings in September of the public inquiry which revealed the incompetence, dishonesty and greed that made the tragedy possible. And in particular the flammable cladding which acted as a devastating accelerant. The blaze drew attention yet again to the crisis in high-rise building safety.
The Dagenham complex had “non-compliant” cladding on it, according to the London Fire Brigade and had been the subject of a fire enforcement notice since 2023. The structure was in the process of having the dangerous material removed – the top two floors were surrounded by scaffolding. While the process of removing the cladding on Britain’s buildings continues at snail’s pace, FBU members like Darren have to risk their lives to deal with the consequences.
“I’ve been in the fire service for 19 years and I’ve not seen a fire quite like it. We were all a bit emotional about it and we all breathed a sigh of relief because there were no fatalities.”
Some 4,600 residential buildings have been identified as having unsafe cladding. Seven years after the Grenfell tragedy, work to remove it has still not started on half of them.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Once again, a fire has erupted in a residential building wrapped in flammable cladding. “Hundreds of thousands of people continue to live in buildings like it, with various failings in fire safety. This is a national scandal.” A spokesman for activist group End Our Cladding Scandal said the previous government had demonstrably failed to heed the warnings of ordinary people living in fear in their own homes.
Tory ministers should have funded work up front to remedy defects – not just cladding – and “then pursued the blame game later”.
“The Labour government must swiftly provide the support that the blameless residents and leaseholders in Dagenham need to recover after the fire, and show that safety in our own homes is at the heart of their housing policy,” said the group.
