Merseyside fire that was an omen of Grenfell 26 years before

Mr Skarratts said he and his colleagues were unaware of the new cladding or the effect it would have on their efforts to extinguish the flames.

“It was a very difficult fire for us, and it was made worse by the cladding falling on to us, and we had to control the fire and extinguish it on the floor,” he said.

The Grenfell inquiry report described the cladding installed at Knowsley Heights as “a combustible polymer material”.

It had been installed as part of a pilot scheme for the then-government’s Housing Management Estates Action programme, intended to improve the appearance of high-rise blocks, reduce energy consumption and prevent damp.

A report into Knowsley Heights by the then-government owned laboratory the Building Research Establishment (BRE) concluded there was “no reason to suggest that cladding in general posed a risk to life unless there were cavities large enough to allow the vertical spread of fire”.

But the Grenfell inquiry report said the combustibility of the cladding panels themselves was “notably absent” from the BRE’s report.

The inquiry concluded the BRE report was “far from comprehensive” and “failed to identify or assess important contributory factors”.