Residents at The Mosaic Apartments in Slough have said that they were outraged at the absence of a fire alarm system after a significant blaze broke out.

The fire started in the early hours of Thursday morning, shocking over 300 residents who were primarily informed to evacuate by their fellow neighbours.

Ranjithlad Othayoth, a resident on the fifth floor, was injured after believing that an intruder was breaking into his flat.

Mr Othayoth said: "I didn’t know what was happening.

"It was a shock because there was no alarm and then suddenly there was someone attempting to break down my door.

"They managed to break it down in the end in order to make me aware of the fire."

He added that had a functioning fire alarm been in place, he would have known to evacuate immediately, rather than suffering injury through confusion and fright.

Sudhiksha Dasari, 27, a resident of the first floor, vividly described her experience.

Ms. Dasari said: "It was chaos, we had other residents who knew about the fire banging on everyone’s doors.

"There was no alarm so we didn’t know what had happened at first.

"Thankfully it didn't spread very far but it could have been so much worse."

Questioned if the building's lack of a fire alarm system was known to Wallace Estates, which manages the property, a spokesperson confirmed that The Mosaic Apartments had no fire alarm in place.

The strategy of 'stay put', as advised in the most recent fire risk assessment, resulted in not installing a fire alarm system.

Yet, this policy is currently under review following the incident.

In terms of recent fire safety assessments, the building was under review at the time of the fire.

The last risk assessment was conducted on 8 January 2024, and both the Fire Service and Local Authority had visited the building in the weeks preceding the fire, including as recently as 13 August.

Now, Wallace Estates has committed to providing more frequent updates on their remediation works.

Residents are expecting significant improvements to the fire safety measures of the Mosaic Apartments in response to their harrowing evacuation experience.