Yet another high rise fire in London

Up to 100 fire fighters were engaged in a fire which swept through a block of flats in Kingston-upon-Thames yesterday (July 12th). A 32 year old woman has been arrested. Residents said they were forced to use the lifts to escape, despite the danger, because of the speed the fire was spreading. The fire took four hours to bring under control. The block of 60 flats was built in the 1960’s. In a separate incident, around 120 people were evacuated in a fire in a privately-owned block of flats in Marylebone, London on July 1st. Faulty workmanship to blame? Speaking at the recent Fire and Rescue Conference in Harrogate, last week, Steve Turek, of London Fire Brigade reported that “the serious increase in fires in the capital was due to faulty workmanship during and after construction, poor specification of materials and a lack of adequate building control and sign-off”.