Wife who escaped Dagenham flats hearth believes she might be homeless

A woman who escaped a fire at a block of flats in east London has been left distraught and ‘stressed’ over fears she could be left homeless when her emergency hotel accommodation ends next week.

More than 200 firefighters responded to the fire at a multi-storey building in Dagenham overnight on August 26. 

The building was undergoing ‘remedial’ work to remove and replace ‘non-compliant cladding’ on the fifth and sixth floors containing flats, according to a planning application document.

More than 80 people were evacuated in the incident at Freshwater Road, with the fire taking more than eight hours to bring under control.

Katarzyna Barwinska told BBC Newsnight on Friday that the family’s dog did more to alert them to the blaze than the fire alarm.

Katarzyna Barwinska told BBC Newsnight on Friday that she is concerned for her future after losing her home in a huge fire at block of flats in Dagenham last month

Newsnight presenter Paddy O’Connell asked Katarzyna to share her experience as a survivor of the fire at a multi-storey building in Dagenham overnight on August 26

More than 100 people were evacuated from a high-rise block of flats which became engulfed in flames in the middle of the night in Dagenham

Dagenham locals were told to shut their windows and doors due to smoke in the sky

The smoke and flames are seen rising from a a charred block of flats with blackened windows, smoke-stained walls in Dagenham

A close-up of the damage that the fire has caused to the cladding on the outside of the building in Dagenham

‘When the dog woke us up we don’t know it’s a fire because [there was] no alarm, so I’m saying to my husband something has happened, something has happened, so when we are going outside it’s just like smoke in the corridor,’ she told the programme.

‘Maybe we [could have died if] we did not have a dog in the home,’ she added.

Mrs Barwinska said they struggled to exit the building because of a ‘padlock outside in the gate’ with the police eventually helping them out.

She described being in shock and crying while filming footage of their escape.

The programme heard her husband, who is an electrician, is unable to work after all his equipment was damaged in the fire.

Asked how difficult it is for her not knowing where she and her husband will live next week, she said: ‘This is like stress for us.

‘I’m just worried what happens next Monday.’

She continued: ‘What I need now, I need to know just [if the] Government [will] give me just [a] place to stay.

‘I don’t care about stuff… but I need to know where I’m staying for next week.’

Barking and Dagenham Council told Newsnight it is aware some hotel bookings are coming to an end on Monday and said it will be renewing bookings for those who need emergency accommodation.

Barefoot residents, including children, were seen fleeing the building wrapped in sheets

Firefighters worked hard to try and put the terrifying blaze out in Dagenham last month

Cladding on the seven-storey Dagenham building had been in the process of being removed with scaffolding visible at the site. 

London Fire Brigade confirmed here were ‘known fire safety issues’.

The east London blaze broke out more than seven years on from the Grenfell Tower fire and just over a week before the inquiry’s final report was published.