Tenants move back after fire
Residents of a tower block where two firemen died in a blaze last week are set to move back into their homes over the next few days.
Occupants of about 40 flats in the 150-flat Shirley Towers in Southampton were evacuated after the fire on 6 April but will start to move in today and next week.
Nigel Cross, head of housing management at the council, said it carried out fire risk assessments in conjunction with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service on its tower blocks every year. The last assessment on Shirley Towers was completed in August 2009.
Additional assessments had been carried out on the block in the wake of a blaze that killed six people in Lakanal House, Camberwell, south London, last year. That blaze spread quickly and Shirley Towers is a scissors-style tower block, like Lakanal.The fire in Shirley Towers did not spread beyond the flat where it broke out.
One woman, whose daughter and young grandchild have been told they will be moving back shortly, said her daughter did not want to return.
Mr Cross added: ‘Some [residents] will feel nervous and we will work with them to reassure them or provide alternatives.’
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