Deptford housing block fire aftermath: What future for the structure?
Part of the building named Meridian Point in Deptford that saw a major fire last week could be pulled down.
The building has left a number of inhabitants homeless with some homes almost entirely destroyed.
While parts of the exterior may not look quite as bad as may be expected after such a 14 hour-long fire, the blaze went into cavities within the structure causing extensive damage behind the façade.
In addition 14 hours of water spray blasted from the roof compounded damage.
Top floor flats are pretty much gone on the eastern half of the building.
The fire is reported to have started when work being undertaken on the roof caused some sort of material to catch alight.
Workers and some residents were alerted by an eyewitness, and by the time the fire brigade arrived it was too late.
They stated pretty quickly the fire would take many hours to extinguish as it had entered areas of the structure that were difficult to reach, which proved to be correct.
What started around midday was not extinguished until early hours the following day.
London Fire Brigade’s Group Commander Richard Tapp stated: “This was an intense fire located in the roof of the building and fire crews worked hard in challenging conditions.
“The fire was behind a number of voids which meant access was difficult and led to this being a protracted incident.
“It was a complex fire to fight and the roof of the building was destroyed.
“Crews initially worked to ensure there were no people inside the building and carried out a systematic search of all flats.
“We had two of our 32m ladders and a 64m ladder on scene which were key to stopping the spread of the fire.
“Firefighters remained at the scene throughout the night damping down any hot spots and will be there throughout today (Wednesday).”
If the eastern half of the building does need to be pulled down, it’ll be revealing what is built.
Will a new structure go higher given the site sits directly opposite a new block of flats going by the name Copper Creek, which is now approaching completion from Hyde Housing.
For now, hopefully residents who have lost everything can find secure housing and quickly.
Such an awful shame I hope all the residents are ok To be honest I think think the building will need to be completely rebuilt to ensure the structure is safe.
That this low rise development took 14 hours to get the blaze under control is worrying. It appears that whatever was on the roof was highly flammable and incapable of being extinguished before the fire got out of control. Fortunately no-one was killed or injured, but homes have been lost and the ingegrity of the building compromised to such an extent that demolition is a real possibility.
Has there been any news on whether this structure will be replaced?
Half of the block on the corner is now down. I’m not sure if the whole corner is coming down will take a look