Residents of an east London tower block that caught fire earlier this month had warned about the danger of smoke spread and protested that fire wardens were ineffective during a years-long wrangle to make their homes safe, the Guardian has learned. Leaseholders at New Providence Wharf, which has Grenfell-style cladding and combustible wooden balconies, told the developer Ballymore more than two years ago that fire had caused smoke to spread to such an extent that an apartment several storeys up and across in an adjoining block was “severely affected”, but no one contacted the tenant to help her evacuate. And only eight days before this month’s fire they complained that waking watch patrols, which are costing leaseholders £47,000 a month, were “not fit for purpose”. The 7 May fire started in an eighth-floor flat and caused smoke to spread up to the 18th floor, according to residents, who also reported that fire doors failed to close, allowing thick smoke to clog hallways. They also said wardens failed to alert and evacuate many residents, despite an evacuation policy that said they would “go door to door knocking to evacuate all apartments using air horns”. One resident, Selina Christodoulou, said she was not alerted to the fire until half an hour after it started and then only by her sister calling her. Another, who fled the eighth floor where the fire started, said she was only alerted by the faint sound of a smoke alarm inside the burning apartment. “We haven’t heard anyone say they were taken out by waking watch,” said the resident, who requested anonymity. She said it was “ridiculous” that the building did not have fire alarm sounders in the corridors. Forty-two people, including four children, were treated for smoke inhalation and shock and two men were admitted to hospital after a fire that many considered a near-miss after some homeowners were trapped on balconies fearing for their lives. Balconies over three storeys were ablaze before firefighters brought the fire under control. Works to replace combustible cladding were deemed “very urgent” by Ballymore’s fire safety consultants in October 2017, but are yet to start amid a continuing row over who should pay – a situation mirrored in scores of other residential blocks. Ballymore said it had begun “enabling works” before the fire. The fire has galvanised residents and politicians to renew pressure on ministers to underwrite repairs to hundreds of thousands of homes discovered to have fire safety defects that have still not been fixed after the Grenfell fire. Leaseholders have announced plans for a national rally in London to demand that Boris Johnson make good on his promise that they would not have to pay. MPs have estimated the total bill at £15bn, but other estimates put it higher. Residents at another Ballymore block with fire safety faults protested on Saturday when there was also a fresh scare at New Providence Wharf when firefighters were called to a kitchen fire, which was quickly extinguished. This month the government blocked amendments to a fire safety bill aimed at protecting leaseholders from costs. But last week 51 Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs urged the government to immediately finance the repair of building safety defects that have left their constituents facing “life-ruining costs, crippling debt and serious mental health impacts”. “You feel your life is at risk all the time,” said John, an eighth-floor resident at New Providence Wharf who escaped with his partner through thick smoke. “We all know how Grenfell happened. We were sitting on the road watching the building burn and when the flames burst out so quickly we were thinking of Grenfell.” For several years leaseholders have been locked in a stalemate with the developer over who should pay the repair bill, now estimated at £12m for what is known as building A, where the fire happened. Ballymore has offered only £500,000 for this, leaving the rest to the taxpayer and leaseholders. Ballymore said it may offer more. Across England, private building owners have been slower to fix faults than social housing landlords. Only 2% of social housing towers over 18 metres high with Grenfell-style cladding are yet to start repairs, while nothing has started on 13% of private blocks, latest government figures show. Ferrier Point, a council tower block a mile away from New Providence Wharf, was fixed in 2019. To reassure residents and meet its legal duty, Ballymore issued an interim fire policy that said wardens would raise the alarm if needed and fire doors would remain closed. The building was not fitted with alarm sounders in the corridors. Asked whether the smoke detection system worked, Ballymore said it would be “inappropriate to speculate while the [London fire brigade] investigation remains ongoing”. It said it believed the fire doors performed effectively given there was no internal fire spread, but didn’t respond to questions about the spread of smoke. It said that after the 2018 fire, the “LFB reported no deficiencies in the building’s fire safety performance”. Speaking about the role of fire wardens last week, the firm said: “Our on-site team commenced a waking watch evacuation immediately after the fire began. This waking watch successfully alerted and evacuated a significant number of residents across multiple floors within block D before the LFB arrived and took command of the evacuation process.” Ballymore said it had set aside £20m “to support leaseholders impacted by required cladding remediation works” across its portfolio. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Fixing unsafe cladding is the building owner’s responsibility and, as the housing secretary said when he met with them last week, it is deeply disappointing that Ballymore took so long to begin work at New Providence Wharf. “We’re making the biggest improvements to building and fire safety in 40 years, including a comprehensive £5bn plan to help protect hundreds of thousands of leaseholders from the cost of fixing dangerous cladding. Work is already complete or under way in the vast majority of high-rise buildings with unsafe ACM cladding.” ‘Disgraceful’: a child’s letter to Boris Johnson Eight-year old Aarna Patel was so upset by the fire at the New Providence Wharf complex where she lives that within 24 hours she took up a pencil and wrote to Boris Johnson urging him to get the buildings fixed. “It’s absolutely disgraceful,” she told the prime minister, underlining the word disgraceful. “None of the fire doors were working. Neighbours were bringing children down. I was lucky I was at school when this happened. I came home and burst into tears. It was nasty.” Adult leaseholders have long been complaining about safety risks at this and other developments with Grenfell-style cladding and other fire safety defects, but children too are affected by the anxiety and stress. “For three and half years we’ve asked for the cladding to be removed,” Aarna said. “People were panicking. Nothing is happening. We need to get moving. My parents and other friends are busting a gut to help. It’s not acceptable … You need to make a change as PM. Please reply to me and promise me you’re going to help me.”