Those rude, stuck-up Londoners are showing their true colours again, reportedly emptying out their own wardrobes in order to clothe people from the tower block. One woman bought a shopping trolley full of food and water and wheeled it up there for people to help themselves. Disgusting.

This is so tragic. Why do these things always seem to happen in the middle of the night, when most of the residents would be home and asleep.

I've seen the reports of people throwing children from the windows. Can't even imagine having to be in that position.

I know, just unthinkable.

Meanwhile, our strong and stable Prime Minister is nowhere to be seen. Sadiq Khan has been down there and looks like he's been up all night, now Jeremy Corbyn is on TV talking about areas of concern he is going to look at and thanking the emergency services and local residents for all their help. The Maybot doesn't ever seem to learn.

Scot Dutchy wrote:I read through all those planning documents and never came across the subject of fire safety. The staircase was referred to as the fire escape but what is was made out of is not stated or the fire doors.

This is third hand, but someone on reddit said he watched a BBC interview where a resident said most people stayed in the apartments because (and I quote the redditor here):

the landlord recently installed gas pipes in the stairwell, the stairwell is not lit, it's dangerous in there.

just five miles or so from my house. Seems the block was a death trap.

People appear to have been told to stay in their flats ...

Yeah, thats because measures should keep a fire contained to the flat it started in for around an hour or two. Which is fine, if in your building those measures have been included in the first place.

It's not the cladding per se, it's whether fire stopping is installed behind the panels and if there is fire stopping and separation between units. Pipes and wiring feeds are huge contributors to fire spread.

Fallible wrote:Yeah, thats because measures should keep a fire contained to the flat it started in for around an hour or two. Which is fine, if in your building those measures have been included in the first place.

According to a BBC TV news report, such measures were originally included, but later modifications severely damaged the fire-resistance of the structure. The several identical-looking tower blocks surrounding it might well have been similarly modified, unfortunately. I have no specific information about that, but it's a reasonable guess, I think.
If it was flammable external cladding that enabled the fire to spread so quickly, then clearly all the blocks have the same issue.

DavidMcC wrote:

Fallible wrote:Yeah, thats because measures should keep a fire contained to the flat it started in for around an hour or two. Which is fine, if in your building those measures have been included in the first place.

According to a BBC TV news report, such measures were originally included, but later modifications severely damaged the fire-resistance of the structure. The several identical-looking tower blocks surrounding it might well have been similarly modified, unfortunately. I have no specific information about that, but it's a reasonable guess, I think.

Hopefully not, they appear to have completely different cladding, certainly not the aluminium type that was recently installed on that building.

I sincerely hope you're right.

felltoearth wrote:It's not the cladding per se, it's whether fire stopping is installed behind the panels and if there is fire stopping and separation between units. Pipes and wiring feeds are huge contributors to fire spread.

Yeah, that's pretty much what they've been saying on the TV. This has the unfortunate aroma of cut corners about it.

Tzelemel wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:I read through all those planning documents and never came across the subject of fire safety. The staircase was referred to as the fire escape but what is was made out of is not stated or the fire doors.

This is third hand, but someone on reddit said he watched a BBC interview where a resident said most people stayed in the apartments because (and I quote the redditor here):

the landlord recently installed gas pipes in the stairwell, the stairwell is not lit, it's dangerous in there.

Installing gas? That is the last thing you want in tower blocks. Stairwell not lit. Is there no control and no inspection? WTF does the town council do?

ronmcd wrote:

DavidMcC wrote:

Fallible wrote:Yeah, thats because measures should keep a fire contained to the flat it started in for around an hour or two. Which is fine, if in your building those measures have been included in the first place.

According to a BBC TV news report, such measures were originally included, but later modifications severely damaged the fire-resistance of the structure. The several identical-looking tower blocks surrounding it might well have been similarly modified, unfortunately. I have no specific information about that, but it's a reasonable guess, I think.

Hopefully not, they appear to have completely different cladding, certainly not the aluminium type that was recently installed on that building.

They looked the same as the unburned portion of the burned building to me.

According to the planning documents it was zinc cladding and unpolished aluminium on the windows.

I note that, this evening, the BBC's pictures of the building do not show the similar-looking blocks nearby, only dissimilar blocks. Presumably, this is by careful choice of viewpoint. (I don't know if that was deliberate, however.) The role played by the recent refurbishment of the block is still an issue, it seems to me.

12 dead, but expected to rise.

The staircase was completely open. No division with fire doors. It would have acted as a chimney.

If this disaster doesn't get significant reforms (such as mandatory sprinklers in high-rises) introduced, don't know what will.

"Jeremy Corbyn tried to pass through a law that would required private landlords to make their homes safe and “fit for human habitation” last year – but it was rejected by the Conservatives.

Labour proposed an amendment to the Government’s new Housing and Planning Bill – a raft of new laws aimed at reforming housing law – in January last year, but it was rejected by 312 votes to 219.

According to Parliament’s register of interests, 72 of the MPs who voted against the amendment were themselves landlords who derive an income from a property."


Full article http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/corbyn-tried-pass-law-make-homes-safe-last-year-conservatives-rejected/14/06/