• IN the last few years there have been two fires in tower blocks with nice new cladding in Camden which did not spread as we saw in horror at Grenfell.

We should ask why not? Was Camden just lucky, or are the constructions so different they do not easily catch fire, no matter what cladding was used?

Residents in the towers need to be protected by all means possible, but the panic evacuation seems unwarranted at this stage, except for the most frightened or vulnerable. Why are disabled or elderly people living 10 floors up in the first place?

Let us get the facts first. We know the Grenfell fire was started by a faulty fridge-freezer, but how did it spread? Were there no fire alarms anywhere in the whole building?

Until we have some assessment of the complex aspects, I suggest caution: installing fire alarms throughout the towers would take a day at most, stationing fire wardens in every block, on every floor if need be, could be done now; and fire engines could be stationed nearby; though let’s not forget who closed the Belsize fire station. Where is Boris Johnson these days?

Knee-jerk reactions are often wrong, but in this case are already frightening and disrupting the lives of every tower block resident in the country, possibly for no good reason.

Immediate questions remain. I read that “hundreds of fire doors” are missing from the blocks. Didn’t anyone notice? As for no fire alarms, and so on, who failed to deal with these absolutely basic things?

And why has Camden stuffed people into the leisure centre at Swiss Cottage when there is an empty office building at 100 Avenue Road which could house as many as 90 families?

On June 15 Camden’s planning committee removed a key hurdle stopping a proposed 24-storey tower from being built at 100 Avenue Road despite a request for caution by those opposed to this over-development.

So why is Camden so keen to push these plans through? We could have completely revised fire regulations for high-rise buildings by the end of the year.

DAVID REED
Eton Avenue, NW3