Dozens of families in unsafe Camden tower blocks refuse to leave

Authorities in Camden were working to convince dozens of families to leave their homes on Saturday after they refused to evacuate, despite concerns the tower blocks they are living in were at risk of a Grenfell-type blaze.

More than 80 households, including elderly people and others with disabilities and vulnerabilities, refused to leave the blocks on the Chalcots estate, which is home to almost 4,000 people.Some had changed their minds by Saturday morning and joined the exodus, but Camden council is now considering what to do with those who refuse to leave.

“We are saying now to people that they really do need to leave and, if they do not, then we will have to take advice form the fire service about what to do next,” said Georgia Gould, the leader of Camden council.

The prime minister, Theresa May, said on Saturday: “For those Camden blocks, it wasn’t

just a question of the cladding; there were a number of issues that came together that meant that the fire service were concerned about those blocks and the action was taken by the local authority.

“We are making sure that the authority has the ability to do what is necessary to ensure people have somewhere to stay and that the work is done so that those tower blocks will become safe for them to return to in the future.”

Social workers, members of the fire service and other staff had been stationed overnight at the blocks to support people who would not leave their homes, as others grabbed belongings and went elsewhere.

Residents came and went at a local community centre on Saturday morning, where they were being registered, and the blocks themselves were quiet as a trickle of people returned and were escorted in. They were given 30 minutes to remove extra belongings.

Among those leaving Dorney, one of the towers, was a heavily pregnant resident, Solange Tomas, who had come back with members of her family after evacuating on Friday.“We heard about things when we turned on the news and decided that it was better to be safe, so we left,” she said. “Everything is packed now and ready to go, so we are going up to register with the community centre and see what happens next.”

Tomas was calm, but there was anger from other residents about what they saw as inadequate council arrangements for rehousing people.

Another Dorney resident, 67-year-old Arnoldo Diaz, said he had been told that the evacuation was not yet mandatory, so he would be staying put until it was.

“We decided not to go as we have nowhere to go to. We are from South America and have no family here and no friends [in the UK]. The council is saying they don’t have accommodation for everyone. They are looking for it, but what is the point of leaving? Where will we stay?

He said he was not worried about the risk of a fire in the building, because there had been one in 2012 that did not spread. He was confused about why the matter had become so pressing eight years after the building’s refurbishment. “Do they really worry or want to be seen doing something?”

Like Grenfell, many of the residents of the Chalcots estate are poorer working class families.

Artan Moallim, originally from Somalia but living in one of the towers on the estate for 15 years, said his wife had been told that the family would have to evacuate at 2am on Saturday.

“I was working at the time because I’m a bus driver and have only come back this morning,” said Moallim, as he held the hand of his two-year-old daughter outside the community centre where they had registered.

Clutching an official form, he said they had been told to expect a call some time on Saturday to inform them about they they will be accommodated. His wife spent the night in the tower with their three girls.

“I have barely slept since the Grenfell fire and it was made worse when we heard about the connections between this place and there. It’s difficult to live here as it its. We are in a one bedroom flat on the sixteenth floor. Imagine that.