Official: NFL arena has panels like London tower

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Latest on concerns about fire safety in U.S. buildings (all times local):

Cleveland’s chief building official says panels used on a city-owned NFL stadium are “similar if not identical” to those used at a London apartment tower that burned.

However, Thomas Vanover also says he’s confident the Cleveland Browns’ stadium is safe.

A spokesman for Cleveland’s mayor initially said questions about the stadium would have to wait until after the investigation into the London fire, which killed at least 80 people. But Vanover held a news conference Thursday after The Associated Press reported on concerns about several U.S. buildings, including the stadium.

Vanover says the panels were installed on the stadium in a different way than in London’s Grenfell Tower, and that the venue’s overall cladding system was different.

Arconic Inc. quit making the panels available for high-rise buildings after the fire.