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Twenty-seven high-rise apartment blocks have failed fire cladding safety tests carried out in the wake of a deadly inferno at a west London tower, the British Government says.
Specifics on where the buildings were located were not given, but officials said they were in 15 council areas.
Officials had said earlier that samples of cladding panels from 14 buildings in London, Manchester and Plymouth had been found to be combustible.
The testing is being done as officials around Britain scramble to assess the safety of apartment buildings following the June 14 inferno that engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London, killing an estimated 79 people.
Combustible cladding used to insulate the tower and improve its appearance has been blamed for the rapid spread of the blaze.
Overnight on Friday (local time), about 650 homes were evacuated by the Camden Borough Council in London due to fire safety concerns.
The number of households was revised down from an earlier estimate of 800.
However, UK media reported dozens of people at the affected Chalcots Estate were refusing to leave their homes.
Carl McDowell, 31, said he took one look at the packed inflatable beds offered at a nearby leisure centre being used as a temporary shelter, and went back to his own apartment.
He said officials knocked on residents' doors on Friday night, two hours after he had heard about the evacuation on the news.
Camden Council leader Georgia Gould said if residents had not left their homes after being visited again by officials on Saturday, "it will become a matter for the fire service".
Ms Gould said the council decided to evacuate the buildings on the Chalcots Estate late on Friday after fire inspectors told officials the blocks were unsafe.
Inspectors uncovered problems with "gas insulation and door stops", which combined with the presence of flammable cladding meant residents had to leave immediately.
So far, Camden Council has been the only local authority known to have asked residents to leave as a precaution.
The flammable external cladding has been identified as the culprit in the Grenfell disaster, but fire-safety experts have said the blaze was probably due to a string of failures, not just the cladding.
Manslaughter charges being considered over deadly blaze
Police said on Friday they were considering filing manslaughter charges over the Grenfell disaster and they were conducting a wide-ranging investigation that would look at everything that contributed to it.
The Metropolitan Police said cladding attached to the 24-storey public housing project during a recent renovation failed safety tests conducted by investigators, and they had seized documents from a number of organisations.
"We are looking at every criminal offence from manslaughter onwards," Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack said.
"We are looking at all health and safety and fire safety offences, and we are reviewing every company at the moment involved in the building and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower."
The Government has ordered an immediate examination of the refrigerator model that started the blaze — the Hotpoint model FF175BP.
Hotpoint said it was working with authorities to examine the appliance, adding "words cannot express our sorrow at this terrible tragedy".
The Government has called on all building owners, public and private, to submit samples of cladding material used on their buildings for testing.
Police say 79 people are either dead or missing and presumed dead in the blaze, although authorities have warned the number might change and it could never be known exactly how many people died.
To encourage cooperation, Prime Minister Theresa May said the Government would not penalise any fire survivors who were in the country illegally.
AP
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, fires, united-kingdom
First posted