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Hundreds of tower blocks fail fire safety checks, investigation reveals

Hundreds of tower blocks across England have fire safety flaws including broken fire doors and holes, new figures show in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.

Fire risk assessments (FRAs) at 436 social housing blocks revealed 268 had damaged fire doors, 109 had holes in the walls of service rooms, 44 had exposed pipes or hanging electric cables, and four were identified as having faulty or broken ventilation.

The investigation by trade magazine Inside Housing also found 71 blocks were suffering from a lack or deficiency of emergency lighting in stairwells or communal areas.

And at 73 buildings, residents were either offered no safety information for fires or it was unclear or incorrect.

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There are around 4,000 tower blocks across England, at which there is no legal requirement for those managing the buildings to carry out the fire-safety assessments within a specific time-frame.

Fire experts, however, recommend annual checks.

The overall fire risk at the blocks could still be higher than FRAs portray, as many were said to be "type 1" assessments, meaning they did not examine the state of flats themselves or cladding and insulation on their exterior.

A nationwide safety operation was launched to establish how many buildings were clad in material similar to that blamed for aiding the Grenfell fire's spread, exposing hundreds potentially at risk.

Ronnie King, honorary administrative secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, said: "Unless assessors go into flats there's no point.

"Fire resistance can get punctured by people breaking into cavities to do other work."

FRAs from the blocks were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from 36 councils or arms-length management organisations and seven housing associations, dated between 2012 and July 2017 - meaning some issues could have since been resolved.