Families unaware of 'devastating' fire damage

Three families living in a block of flats damaged by fire this week are uncontactable on holiday, one newspaper has reported.

Firefighters were called to Ealing to tackle a blaze at the start of the week, which then went on to devastate the block of flats in West London, but three families - whose properties were affected - have not found out about the news due to their being away.

Such circumstances mean that the families will have to catch up in their attempts to make a claim on their home insurance, and there may be problems later if the insurers note that the claim was made late.

Leader of Ealing Council, Jason Stacey, has said they are not rushing families back into the building: "We have people assessing the damage to see how quickly we can get people back in.

"We are not trying to keep people in the dark, but we do not want to give false hope by giving return dates before the building and commodities are safe."

August 15^th 2008

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