Fire at Grenfell cladding manufacturer's factory

  • 05/11/2017
Fire at Grenfell cladding manufacturer's factory
The fire at Grenfell Tower killed at least 80 people in June. Photo credit: Getty

A factory owned by the manufacturer of Grenfell Tower's cladding panels has caught fire.

Fire services were called to the Arconic production plant in Exeter, Devon, just before 1:30am on Saturday, local time, according to the Telegraph.

Eight fire engines were sent to combat the fire, which started accidentally.

Flames had spread to the roof of the factory by 2:30am, but firefighters brought it under control and the fire was extinguished by 3am.

The factory's furnace area was damaged, but no one was injured.

Arconic, a US firm, produced the Reynobond PE panels that were installed as part of Grenfell Tower's cladding system. The panels are coated in aluminium with a plastic, highly flammable core - a material that is suspected to have accelerated the fire that killed at least 80 people in June.

Following the tragedy, Arconic announced it was stopping international sales of Reynobond PE cladding for tall buildings.

The company's shares fell as much as 11.3 percent after reports Arconic had supplied the panels to Grenfell Tower, despite warning in company brochures the panels posed a fire risk for tall buildings.

The company wrote at the time: "We were not involved in the installation of the system, nor did we have a role in any other aspect of the building's refurbishment or original design."

Newshub.