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Natalie Basilaia from Georgia who had to be rescued by ladder from the fire |
Tenants rescued as flats block blazes
A FIRE that ripped through the hallway of a block of bedsits in Kentish Town early on Thursday could have been smouldering for two days before it erupted, according to tenants.
Firefighters rescued 16 people from the Kentish Town Road block, above a late-night convenience shop opposite the Assembly House pub.
Tenants Tamas Szabo and Reka Vincze said they had smelt burning plastic for two days before the blaze.
Tamas, 26, said: “People were looking around to find out where it was coming from, but none of us could find it. It was a strong enough smell for every one to notice it. We eventually thought it must be coming from outside.”
Reka, a Hungarian worker who had lived in the block for four weeks, said: “I was woken up at five in the morning to the sound of the fire alarm.
“It was scary – there was a lot of panic. Two girls who live here were panicking and shouting that we were all going to die.”
Another tenant, who did not wish to be named said: “There have been lots of problems with the house. At one point we did not have electricity for a long time – over a month – and when they came to do repairs, they did not do them well.
“Things kept going wrong. For two months we had to get onto the landlord to sort out the hot water and we had to threaten not to pay our rent to make them act.”
Natalie Basilaia, 21, from Georgia, said she had moved into the house four days before the fire. She was rescued from her top-floor room by ladder and was treated in hospital for smoke inhalation.
She said: “We were scared. There was black smoke and we couldn’t see anything.”
Tenants were put up in rooms at the Holiday Inn Hotel, in Camden Town, while damage was assessed.
At the scene, the landlord refused to give his name to the New Journal, but said: “Nothing like this has happened before. The building has an up-to-date certificate and it has just been refurbished.
“I’m obviously doing all that is needed to bring it up to scratch. I will be rewiring and refitting the alarm system.”
Firefighters said they believed the fire started in a fuse box by the front door in the hallway. |
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