I was in NYC that day, saw it all unfold, I was trying to get to Spring Street, for a 9:30 meeting which obviously didn't happen, I remember it being the most beautiful September day whilst the most horrific events happened.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that there's something fishy about this incident? I still can't get my head around the fact that a fridge on the 4th floor started this fire.
The way the fire spread so quickly was incredible, supposedly caused by the external cladding (someone suggested that the fridge in question was next to a window). Have you ever encountered anything like that Nines?
If anyone on here would have any insight, its you mate. I have been trying to avoid thinking about what would be worse, something deliberate or an accident that the building was pathetically equipped to keep contained. Actually, however it was started there is obviously something wrong with the structure in terms of fire safety.
I've attended quite a few high rise fires but nothing like yesterday's horror Strolls. The only time I've seen a compartment fire uncontained was by a deliberate act. The perp used an accelerant ( petrol ) and as it was the height of summer the windows to the flat were open and the fire leapt up to the floor above. The upper flat only caught light as the windows were open and the curtains caught alight. On arrival the fire was going well but we knocked it down quite quickly and contained it to the two apartments. With yesterdays fire the timings until the point the fire service were mobilised is crucial. From what I can gather the man who's flat caught fire said it was his fridge that exploded. His neighbour on the fourth floor of Grenville Tower said that he knocked on her door at 12:50 am to alert her that his fridge had caught fire. She said that she could see the fire and it was small and that it looked lie he had been gathering his belongings as he had stuff packed into bags. The brigade were called at 12:54 and the first crews arrived six minutes later at 01:00 am. Fifteen minutes later the whole facade of the building was alight and completely engulfed ten minutes after that. How could a small fire breach the compartment that are built to withhold a fire for a minimum of forty minutes? Sorry I would have liked to make this more comprehensive but I've got to go out now.
Metro this morning reported a woman who'd said it started in her neighbour's flat but he woke her up AFTER packing some of his goods. If true that is just beyond words. Also there's a grim irony about at least one Syrian refugee who fled to safety. So so sad.
I'm assuming windows were open due to the hot weather. Can't recall if it was windy or not. It strikes me that with a disaster of this magnitude I would prefer the chief investigator to be from another nation to ensure objectivity.
never miss a chance for point scoring do they The Labour MP Harriet Harman criticised Mrs May for not meeting residents, writing on Twitter: "She should have been prepared to listen to them." ****ers all of em
Corbyn has said that empty properties in K&C owned by overseas investors should be requisitioned. I make him right. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...o-rehouse-grenfell-fire-victims-a7791986.html
Its all Mays fault. Lets have another General Election, another Brexit and another Scottish Referendum next week.
I don't read any of the papers but often have a gander at the front pages on news websites. Anyway this one jumped out at me...
To be honest mate, I'm floundering. Jeremy Corbyn summed this up for me today when he said this ... ''Some very hard questions have to be asked and some very hard questions have to be answered. A construction of a tower block is essentially a series of concrete boxes which are the flats. The fire is not supposed to spread from one flat to another, it's supposed to be contained. It wasn't. '' Firefighters train for high rise incidents. They have pre-determined protocols of what equipment and actions that need to be taken upon arrival. So they go about their business on what Jezza has said above. It's a bit like firefighting by numbers ... the first crew will be expected to find a hydrant and plug into the dry riser and set up the equipment needed to be taken aloft.. Subsequent crews will don breathing apparatus and perform snatch rescues as well as fighting the fire whilst doing so. As various resources are mobilised and a bigger plan is implemented and then the whole incident is managed with one common goal. Organised chaos if you will. On arriving at Greville Tower that plan went completely out of the window as no one had ever prepared for such an unprecedented incident. They had to make it up as they went along. Improvise, adapt and try to overcome. The nature of this incident has shocked everyone in the fire service. This should never have happened. You fight fires from within a building of this nature. You don't expect the threat to come from outside it. I'm also hearing that the main means of escape was also compromised ... ie the stairwell. This should've been equipped with positive pressurisation which means that it should've been kept smoke free so that anyone who made it there should have had a clear run at escaping. Apparently there was gas pipes feeding the central heating systems that ran through it and they had also been breached creating a fire source within a supposed zone of safety. This may or maybe not be true but this incident is a huge game changer in social housing and how it's managed. One other thing, I was walking my dog this evening and I was speaking with a mate of mine who works in building maintenance. He said that it was common practice that when you pitched for business that you showed the potential buyer the best product for the job. Such as protective fire cladding. But when the company install it they don't actually use the product they showed you. They use an inferior product for half the price but looks exactly like the same item they showed you hoping to 'wing it' and thus pick up a tidy profit. Not that he does this as he's an electrician but knows what goes on. It's only hearsay of course, we await the outcome.
Apparently this cladding is banned in the USA and Germany, there are hundreds of blocks in the UK fitted with this stuff. All housing association/council refits are done on cheapest cost basis, this is the result. It has been mentioned a nearby multi million pound new developement considered Grenfell an eyesore so the cladding was an aesthetic fix. This was part of a refurbishment that didn't include upgrading the lifts which the fire brigade regularly attended to rescue tenants from. Unbelieveable...
Expert on BBC this morning said what 999s had brought up. How the fire "got out" of the flat where it started within 15 minutes of the FireBrigade being called.. He gave 3 explanations ...the Fire brigade were called very/too late, an accelerant was present......or the flats weren't fit for purpose. He wouldn't say which he considered to be the cause.
I passed by the tower on the Westway yesterday evening and although you have seen it on TV and in newspapers nothing can prepare you for actually seeing it as it is, an awful blackened skeletal wreck and knowing there are still many bodies lying inside it, a very sad and sobering sight...
I heard Michael Portillo ripping in to her last night as well, it's not all tribal points scoring. I hadn't realised that she had been to the scene but didn't meet residents/victims. Frankly bizarre behaviour, akin to George Dubya and New Orleans. She's still incredibly poorly advised and/or lacking in some basic human instincts. Surprised that Prince Harry hasn't turned up yet, though he does seem to have genuine empathy and an ability to connect with all sorts of people. I'm always doubtful when the great and the good turn up at disaster scenes, getting in the way. One or two to show the right level of respect and commitment to help ok, but not everyone and his dog. Even worse, the floods of media, getting in people's faces and winding them up in a very raw moment. The BBC seem to have dozens of reporters and crews hanging round, and in their new fangled policy sent Huw Edwards to the scene to read the news from an autocue, something he could have done better from the studio.
