Emergency fire safety checks will be carried out on all Kingston council housing estates in the coming weeks, following the blaze at a block in Camberwell which killed six people.
Four tower blocks on the Cambridge Road estate will be inspected first and if vital work needs doing, the council has promised to do it.
Other council housing will then be inspected over the next few weeks.
Residents in the council blocks have spoken of their shock at seeing pictures of the 12-storey Lakanal House on fire on Friday, July 3.
Jill Preston, chairman of the Cambridge Road Estate Community Group, said: “I thought ‘Oh my God, that could be us’, but I’m probably one of millions who thought that.
“If there was a fire in the stairs I’ve got no exit. This is something that was raised about two years ago and we had the fire brigade round. To give the council credit, they did work to stop the fire spreading.
“Short of adding another flight of stairs, it’s difficult to know how they would do it. They can do anything they like but if there’s a fire in the stairwell we couldn’t get out.”
She said the biggest threat would be youths setting things alight in the rubbish shoot, which runs next to the stairwell in Comberton, the block where she lives.
Councillor Penny Shelton, executive member for housing, told a council committee on Tuesday, July 7, that all properties complied with fire safety regulations introduced in 2006.
She said: “Kingston does not have any blocks of the same construction as those affected at Camberwell. However, we do, like most social landlords across the country, have some blocks where there is a single means of escape aside from lifts.
“It will be some time before the full report into the Camberwell fire appears and it may be that Government guidance and requirements are changed as a result. Kingston will, of course, learn any lessons that emerge from that report and comply with any changes in regulations that follow.”
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