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Massive blaze in London, U.K. high-rise


Likely Guy

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3 minutes ago, kartikg said:

the residents are to be blamed partially they knew the building was fire hazard and after seeing that their complaints were not addressed by whomever responsible should have put some money on their own for alarms and sprinklers. I have seen this kind of mindset before. 

(a) probably many of them had enough on to scrape enough together for day-to-day things, and (b)  rigging up sprinklers entirely off their own bat without the permission of the landlord? I rather doubt that would be tolerated.

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1 minute ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

So why don't you share some of yours then, if you think you know but will not say? Why not offer your advice to the Police and the Fire service? I'm sure they'd be most grateful.

Why do you want me to tell people how to burn down a highrise.

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1 hour ago, kartikg said:

the residents are to be blamed partially they knew the building was fire hazard and after seeing that their complaints were not addressed by whomever responsible should have put some money on their own for alarms and sprinklers. I have seen this kind of mindset before. 

Tell me.can you afford a sprinkler system?

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1 hour ago, Mr.United_Nations said:

Tell me.can you afford a sprinkler system?

They should be on every floor...paid for by the coucil, but not all council blocks have them....but every floor does have some form of fire extinguisher, ours had a hose on each floor, also every flat should have their own fire alarm and fire extinguisher, especially when you know the block is a risk....these can be obtained for free

2 hours ago, Setton said:

People who can't afford their own place to live. They don't have the money to spare for things like that.

I am from a sky rise council block...we are not all poor people.

many are hard working respectable people and although not able to buy their own homes, does not mean you are living the life of poverty.

We had a roof over our heads, heating, running water and 90% of us had dignity and respect for where we lived and who we lived next to.

most of the flats had tv and their mod coms....but people have to also take responsibilty for their own safety too AND think about the safety of others around them

those on the higher floors are only safe if those below them are being vigilant....

The fire brigade give out free smoke alarms and do checks in peoples flats.....FOR FREE to those who need and and want it.

no excuse not to have this done....especially if you have been concerned about the block you live in:

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/SmokeAlarms.asp

 

please note.. .no matter how careful people are,  i still think families should not be living in these high rise flats...unless every one of them have regular checks and each flat is equipped.

i now own my own boat...but life was not easy in those block...mainly because of the 10% who made it bad.

 

Edited by freetoroam
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This tragic event was waiting to happen.

The fact that there has been an Action Group protesting about the management of the building says it all.

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18 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

This takes blaming the victim to a whole new level.

Up to a point i agree with Kartikg, when i lived in a sky scrapper there was one fire which gutted the flat...this was due to the resident leaving a chip pan on and going out.

we had numerous fires in the chutes, these were due to people putting their rubbish in the chute with still lit cigarettes and most were started in the chute area by kids or arsonists..so there is reason to blame the initial fire starter...BUT this case has got way wat out of hand.....the blame lies also with the council etc .

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Apparently, there are between 3000 and 4000 tower blocks in the UK (depending on what you call high-rise) and only 18 of them have sprinkler systems.

The vast majority have fire hoses on every floor, which is adequate for most situations.

Edited by acute
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The firefighters have said the blaze started in a flat on floor 2 (they haven't confirmed it was an exploding fridge yet) and have said it took an estimated 4 minutes to climb above the 12th floor. They say it is highly likely the fire spread so fast because of the exterior wooden cladding.

And, unfortunately, because by the time they had arrived it had already passed the 12th floor there was nothing they could do with their fire engine hoses. This is because they could only reach 12 floors up. Nasty.

 

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28 minutes ago, Daughter of the Nine Moons said:

How about we have the decency and compassion to leave the victim blaming and conspiracy theories at the door until at the very least the victims are all accounted for and the fire department has issued their report?

Growing up in one of these blocks and seeing a fire 2  floors below me....i can honestly say this case here has left me numb. I can not even start to say how much pain i feel for all the victims and their families....it is heart wrenching. 

I feel complete utter pain for them all and yet at the same time anger as i recall my experiences with a tower block fire....but what has happened here is every bodies nightmare living in a council blocks like this.

My heart goes out to the victims  and my praises and much respect and admiration to our fire fighters and medical personel.

 

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6 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

The firefighters have said the blaze started in a flat on floor 2 (they haven't confirmed it was an exploding fridge yet) and have said it took an estimated 4 minutes to climb above the 12th floor. They say it is highly likely the fire spread so fast because of the exterior wooden cladding.

And, unfortunately, because by the time they had arrived it had already passed the 12th floor there was nothing they could do with their fire engine hoses. This is because they could only reach 12 floors up. Nasty.

It reportedly took fifteen minutes to spread from the second floor to the roof.

It's being reported today that this type of cladding has been linked with other fires too:

London fire: Grenfell Tower cladding 'linked to other fires'

"The cladding installed on Grenfell Tower was also used on other buildings that have been hit by fires around the world, the BBC has learned.

The exterior cladding, added in 2015, had a polyethylene - or plastic - core instead of an even more fireproof alternative, BBC Newsnight understands.

High-rise buildings in France, the UAE and Australia that had similar cladding have all been hit by fires that spread."

There's some serious questions that need to be answered, but if this cladding is in widespread use, it must be meeting building regs around the world?

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8 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

The firefighters have said the blaze started in a flat on floor 2 (they haven't confirmed it was an exploding fridge yet) and have said it took an estimated 4 minutes to climb above the 12th floor. They say it is highly likely the fire spread so fast because of the exterior wooden cladding.

And, unfortunately, because by the time they had arrived it had already passed the 12th floor there was nothing they could do with their fire engine hoses. This is because they could only reach 12 floors up. Nasty.

 

The exploding fridge story was on the 4th floor. 

Have to wait and see what the reports say about how it started.

but this now puts a whole new look on all the flats which have been cladded....they would have to have been at least fire retardant....you can not even buy a new sofa without a fire safety label.

In this country there are so many rules about fire safety......we are a health and safety country, it would be interesting to know how long this fire was burning for inside the flat before getting to an uncontrollable stage where it got through to the fire retardant cladding and  being at the point where it could spread so quickly.

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The latest death toll has reached 17. It's been estimated the final death toll could be as much as 100 or more.

Quote

There are still “unknown numbers” of people missing in the Grenfell Tower disaster and it could be weeks before the final death toll is established, London’s fire commissioner said today.

Dany Cotton said that “tragically we are not expecting to find anyone else alive” as the number of fatalities confirmed so far rose to 17.

Sniffer dogs were being sent in to search for further victims, she said.

She warned that it would “take a long time” for firefighters to conduct a full search of the tower block because of the severity of the blaze.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/grenfell-tower-fire-death-toll-reaches-17-as-fire-chief-says-no-more-survivors-a3565656.html

 

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2 minutes ago, Still Waters said:

The latest death toll has reached 17. It's been estimated the final death toll could be as much as 100 or more.

 

That's awful.

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The leader of Southwark council has just pointed out on the radio that of the past recent tower block fires in the UK which have cost lives, and this fire, they have been social housing - private blocks have modern safety features.

We should all be ashamed of ourselves in the UK for allowing this to happen when tax money, if it was spent, could prevent these tragedies.

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3 hours ago, freetoroam said:

The exploding fridge story was on the 4th floor. 

Have to wait and see what the reports say about how it started.

but this now puts a whole new look on all the flats which have been cladded....they would have to have been at least fire retardant....you can not even buy a new sofa without a fire safety label.

In this country there are so many rules about fire safety......we are a health and safety country, it would be interesting to know how long this fire was burning for inside the flat before getting to an uncontrollable stage where it got through to the fire retardant cladding and  being at the point where it could spread so quickly.


 

Quote

 

Was cladding to blame for rapid spread of fire? Cheap 'Polystyrene-type' may have helped spread devastating blaze after it 'went up like a matchstick' - as council is accused of penny pinching despite warnings not to take cheapest bid

    Cheap cladding could be to blame for rapid spread of fire which killed 12 people
    Blaze started in the early hours of this morning and 27-storey building destroyed
    Materials were added to block to 'improve the view' for the luxury flats nearby
    Boss behind the £10million refurbishment of 1970s tower block admitted he does not know what the cladding is made from
    Checks are to be carried out on tower blocks going through similar refurbishment to Grenfell Tower, policing and fire minister Nick Hurd has said
    Woman who worked as a property manager for Kensington and Chelsea Council for 20 years said the deadly blaze could have been prevented


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604296/Was-cladding-blame-spread-tower-block-fire.html#ixzz4k51cqzFs


 

 

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This is so sad. Whole families are unaccounted for. It will take weeks before anything is known.

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3 hours ago, freetoroam said:

The exploding fridge story was on the 4th floor. 

 


 

Quote

 

The man 'whose faulty fridge started Grenfell Tower inferno': Ethiopian taxi driver raised alarm when blaze started in his kitchen, neighbour claims

    Behailu Kebede raised the alarm in the Grenfell Tower inferno, neighbour claims
    Father of one, Ethiopian taxi driver, discovered the fire in his fourth floor kitchen
    Banged on neighbour's door and alerted her to the fire, potentially saving lives
    Maryam Adam, 41, said neighbour knocked on her door to warn her at 12.50am
    At 12.54am  999 was called and the first engines arrived within six minutes
    After another 15 minutes the whole of the west London tower was largely alight


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4606078/Man-flat-tower-fire-started-packed-CLOTHES.html#ixzz4k52FBOeh


 

 

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Rescuers say finding a survivor in the inferno tower would be a 'miracle' raising fears HUNDREDS have died as ministers face mounting pressure over why 'fire hazard' cladding was used

    17 people are known to have died in tower block blaze - although death toll is expected to rise significantly
    London Labour MP David Lammy called for arrests and said he feared 'hundreds' may have died
    Fire crews have managed to get to the top but not enter flats or rooms because it is too precarious
    London fire chief said today that it would be 'miracle' if anyone was still alive in the burnt-out building
    A full inspection of the building will be carried out to work out whether it is safe for recovery to continue
    Theresa May is visiting the site today, amid claims ministers turned a blind eye to fire safety concerns
    Seventy eight people were taken to hospital, with 18 of those fighting for lives in critical conditions


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4605360/Cladding-turned-tiny-fire-hell.html#ixzz4k54G9YGY


 

 

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Battery farms in the sky: Starting in the Fifties, the people who thought they knew best built multi-storey monstrosities. With the same disdain they forced others to live in them, writes RICHARD PENDLEBURY

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4605604/RICHARD-PENDLEBURY-Towers-battery-farms-sky.html#ixzz4k55cFSuV


 

 

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It's corporate manslaughter': London MP calls for arrests saying hundreds may have died after warnings over dangerous cladding were ignored

    David Lammy voiced fury at the massive death toll in the London tower block fire
    Close friend Khadija Saye, 24, and her mother Mary, lived on the 20th floor
    Says he fears 'hundreds' will have lost their lives when final toll becomes clear
    Brands the disaster 'corporate manslaughter' and demands arrests are made


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4606432/Corporate-manslaughter-MP-s-fury-Grenfell-Tower-fire.html#ixzz4k56GxOXY


 

 

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