Rachael Venables Profile picture
May 7, 2021 15 tweets 7 min read Read on X
🚨 20 fire engines on the scene of a fire at New Providence Wharf in East London this morning.

The building’s still covered in ACM cladding - the same type as was on Grenfell. Awaiting updates. @LBC
Back in January the East London Advertiser wrote about the fight to remove the flammable cladding from this building - even though funding had been made available years ago. eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/housing/u…
Latest from @LondonFire.

Called at 8.55, 20 fire engines and around 125 firefighters are there. Parts of the 8th, 9th and 10th floors are alight.

The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.

Thankfully witnesses tell me it looks under control. Pic @IAmAndyPearce
Message from a resident: "No alarm went off for over 30 minutes post the fire. Woke up to the smell of smoke in the flat."

Do send me a DM if you live there/ are in the area.
Apparently, work to remove the cladding was due to start THIS week, and finish in March 2022.
LATEST: I've been told the fire started in a flat's fuse box, and one man is in hospital with burns - but thankfully he's expected to recover. @LBC
London Ambulance Service say they’ve treated “a number of people.” @LBC
Well while I’ve got you here, let’s talk about the Government’s own deadline to remove all of this cladding from all residential buildings. It was June 2020. It was very much missed google.co.uk/amp/s/m.huffin…
Thankfully, the New Providence Wharf fire is all out and under control. Looks like the flat where the fire started has been destroyed - windows and balcony doors blown out. Damage goes a few floors up. This could have been so much worse. @LBC
More about New Providence Wharf. @JSimpsonjourno wrote about this block two whole years ago
Statement from @MattWrack from the FBU, he says the “pace of removing flammable cladding has been glacial, and its putting people’s lives at risk.”
And a statement from @SadiqKhan - who says the “spectre of the tragedy at Grenfell still hangs over our city.”
We’ve also just had a statement through from @GrenfellUnited - they have warned from the start “another tragedy is waiting to happen.”
There’s a sense from witnesses here that the fire-spread really occurred up the wooden balconies (which now don’t meet regulations and also need replacing) rather than along the cladding. That doesn’t negate the ACM risk of course, but maybe explains why this wasn’t worse.
Latest from @LondonFire, Deputy Commissioner Richard Mills says:

- 35 residents evacuated, 22 using smoke hoods.
- 2 members of the public were hospitalised, and a firefighter was injured.
- Inquiry ongoing, they’re working with building owners to get residents home asap.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Rachael Venables

Rachael Venables Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @rachaelvenables

Dec 14, 2022
I’m at the Old Bailey for the sentencing of Jordan McSweeney, who murdered 35-year-old Zara Aleena as she walked home in Ilford in June.

Slight delay as he is refusing to come to court. His defence say he ‘doesn’t want to relive’ the night by watching CCTV played out. @LBC
@LBC Jordan McSweeney is still refusing to come to the court room. Sentencing now beginning with him absent, though he is in the building.
@LBC The court hears how McSweeney attacked Zara Aleena "with a savagery that is almost impossible to believe. He repeatedly kicked and stamped on her head and body; he tore some of her clothes from her body in order that he could sexually assault her; and then he attacked her again."
Read 42 tweets
Oct 14, 2022
Just Stop Oil have just thrown soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery. @LBC
They walked into the gallery this morning and threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the masterpiece - which has an estimated value of $84.2 million.
A Just Stop Oil activist who was in the room tells me (thankfully) the painting is behind glass. Big police presence outside the Gallery now
Read 6 tweets
May 23, 2022
Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Met Lord Brian Paddick just suggested to @AndrewMarr9 the force “may not have investigated [partygate] as hard as they could have done, because they didn’t want to upset Number 10” @LBC
Lord Paddick made the comments after comparing the Partygate investigation to the Met’s failure to investigate phone hacking at first - saying in that case they didn’t want to upset their friends in the media.
Lord Paddick also tells @AndrewMarr9 @LBC the Met needs to clearly explain to the public why Boris Johnson did NOT get a fixed penalty notice for the Nov 2020 event - given what these pictures suggest.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 25, 2022
5,279 Children were Strip Searched by the Met Police in London in the past three years (that's five every single day.)

THREE QUARTERS of them were from ethnically diverse backgrounds

Just under half were black

Only 22% were white 🧵
lbc.co.uk/news/three-qua…
The Met's already under pressure over its use of the tactic, after a damning report found racism was a factor in a 15-year-old girl, "Child Q", being strip searched while on her period at her school in Hackney, without an appropriate adult in the room.
Shadow Policing Minister @LabourSJ says strip search on children should only be used in 'exceptional' circumstances when lives are at risk.

As for the racial disparities, she calls that "wrong, on a basic human rights equality front."
Read 8 tweets
Mar 11, 2022
This is Tanya and Richard Spinks. She's Ukrainian, he's a Brit, and they both live in Lviv.

On Tuesday, she got an email from the Home Office telling her to go to a visa appointment 500 miles away in *Kyiv*

- to an office that's closed. @LBC
@LBC The booking for an appointment to take her biometrics was made on 18th February - for Wednesday 9th March.

The site has since closed, and they eventually managed to get out to Poland.

But on the 8th they were staggered to get a follow-up email, reminding them to go to Kyiv.
Richard Spinks told me it's "beyond incomprehensible."

To think of anyone else receiving this email potentially now "struggling through a war zone, past Russians, to get to an appointment that doesn't exist."
Read 6 tweets
Mar 7, 2022
Fire in a high rise on Whitechapel High Street. London Fire say ten engines & 70 firefighters are at the scene. They’re asking people to avoid the area if possible
Now 100 firefighters are tackling this blaze in Aldgate. You can see external parts of the building flying off as the flames spread. Praying everyone is ok
Now, Sadiq Khan says 20 fire engines and more than 125 firefighters are working to tackle the fire at the block of flats and offices. It's the Relay Building, also home to Houblon Apartments
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(