BrettHeazy
Member
absolutely horrific, I don't even want to fathom the fatality count. The building is wrecked.
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Massive Fire in High Rise Apartment in London
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GHG
Member
Looks like the local group has updated their blog
https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/grenfell-tower-fire/
Fuck, and this right here probably led tens or hundreds maybe to their deaths
https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/kctmo-feeling-the-heat/
This image... Are you fucking shitting me.
How is fire advice ever anything other than "evacuate immediately, do not pass go"?
MilkyJoe
Member
Horrible. Hopefully will finally lead to proper review of these Thatcher towers, many of them should be outright condemned.
I can see the fire from across London right now:
Yeah, I'm 11th floor in the city and I can see the fire, the smoke has traversed the entire city and up towards Edgware
Charles Brandon
Member
Wow. Used to live near there. There is a play centre just close to there called Bramley's Big Adventure that my kids still go to occasionally. Horrible to think that some of the families I've seen in there will have lived in that tower. I know it sounds trite but it really does bring it home.
London is not having a good year.
London is not having a good year.
GHG
Member
Yep, a big reason why I moved out of a high rise here (I was on the 23rd floor for my first year in the country) and now reside in a low rise European style apartment building (3 floors tall, big balconies and concreted/bricked exteriors).
With the way that some of the high rises are built and finished these days they are straight up death traps.
JonnyDBrit
Member
I presume the reasoning in this case is to avoid 'unnecessary panic'. Especially with limited means of escape - so to avoid crowding the stairs and elevator, they keep it on a 'only if you really need to' basis.
Thing is, if that's been drilled into people's heads, they will treat it as what to do no matter what else. Especially on the highest floors, far away from the fire at the start and well away from any means of rescue by the fire brigade once the lower floors were engulfed.
GHG
Member
Evaluators shouldn't be used in the event of a fire alarm going off and if the emergency staircase isn't wide enough to deal with the number of residents in the building then it is not fit for purpose.
I understand the idea of it, but it doesn't work in practice when the building is not build well enough to contain fires.
http://www.completefiresafetymanagement.co.uk/news/fire-and-evacuation-the-stay-put-policy/
Because in most fires the safest thing to do is to stay in your flat, it is usually the smoke in the corridors that kills most people when they try to evacuate, when they would be safe(r) in their flats waiting for the fire department.
The problem is that these old buildings don't secure the fire in compartments very well, especially if there are no proper fire doors or they are not used properly (left open by residents/maintenance).
Spoiled Milk
Banned
Tragic and terrifying. Hope the owners go to jail for life.
My modern built apartment block (3 storeys) has the same advice, it's quite common. In my case because of the modern building standards which should prevent fire being able to spread between them. It actually happened last year and the fire couldn't even leave one room. In that old tower however, yeah I'm surprised that's the policy but I'm not a fire safety expert.
New build may be better. The fire on the Dubai tower spread quickly but the inside was fairly well protected as were the means of escape. The problem here seems to be the reclad is to an old and substandard block, where the residents are aware of the risks but nothing has been done to mitigate them.
There are a whole lot of people who should be going to gaol after this wholly avoidable disaster.
AusRoachman
Member
Such a terrible tragedy, charges need to be laid against owners, politicians, anyone who ignored all these warnings.
Seems like tons of firefighters were on the scene quickly, could they even try to rescue all those people in the windows ? How far does a firetrucks ladder even go ?
Plus i hear access to the building was complicated due to narrow alleyways/roads. Place was an accident waiting to happen for years.
RIP to all those who lost their lives.
Seems like tons of firefighters were on the scene quickly, could they even try to rescue all those people in the windows ? How far does a firetrucks ladder even go ?
Plus i hear access to the building was complicated due to narrow alleyways/roads. Place was an accident waiting to happen for years.
RIP to all those who lost their lives.
Cybrwzrd
Banned
If you read the blog post I put up associated with that image, the management only put that warning out after the group called them out for having nothing posted at all.
I'd wager there was little study done on the buildings ability to compartmentalize a fire of this scale, let alone any risk assement done on the cladding that rather starkingly spread this fire in minutes.
this is truly an unimaginable tragedy that should've never happened. You go home for safety and protection, to be with your loved ones, you never expect something like this to ever happen. To be trapped, surrounded by smoke and flames, with no way to escape, truly horrifying. My thoughts and prayers go out those affected. RIP
GHG
Member
That's horrifying.
There are also reports of it not being clear where the fire exits were as well. All round it's an absolute shambles and all parties involved need to take the brunt of this.
JonnyDBrit
Member
CadetMahoney
Member
If health and safety and whoever greenlit unsafe materials are the ones responsible they might be charged with the strongest version of manslaughter, murder might be a reach, but I'm no expert.
In China they gave the death penalty to contractors who were supposed to install anti-earthquake materials but instead stole the money and used aluminium instead. No steel reinforcement in concrete to cut costs. I can't find the original article though.
Cybrwzrd
Banned
This may sound awful, but given the circumstances I pray and would be quite thankful if every family in that building is only just homeless right now. I don't want to see just how bad this is going to be. If everyone just made it out alive, that is so much better than my fears.
Aid organizations can help the homeless... can't bring back those who aren't with us anymore.
Seems like it's going to be really bad.Iam fearing the death toll
JonnyDBrit
Member
Depending on how many of the hundreds of residents failed to get out? This could wind up the worst disaster in London's history since the second world war.
AusRoachman
Member
I would be demanding immediate action if you live in other towers undergoing renovation by the company who did this building
Trellick Tower for one. They should be reviewing that shit immediately.
http://www.kctmo.org.uk/files/press...ondon_building_-_kensington_&_chelsea_tmo.pdf
Also kind of spooky looking back on some of their previous tweets. I hope this guy and his dog managed to get out alive
https://twitter.com/NFA_ALMOs/status/857664546797957120
Could be days before we know the final fatality numbers.
Trellick Tower for one. They should be reviewing that shit immediately.
http://www.kctmo.org.uk/files/press...ondon_building_-_kensington_&_chelsea_tmo.pdf
Also kind of spooky looking back on some of their previous tweets. I hope this guy and his dog managed to get out alive
https://twitter.com/NFA_ALMOs/status/857664546797957120
Could be days before we know the final fatality numbers.
I genuinely cannot fathom a building that large not requiring a central alarm system by law, and that not being checked. Surely?
In fear for the death count, this has every sign of being horrible :-( And while the people who escaped are still alive, they're still going to go through a terrible time. How can this happen in 2017?
In fear for the death count, this has every sign of being horrible :-( And while the people who escaped are still alive, they're still going to go through a terrible time. How can this happen in 2017?
Sarcastic Poster
Member
On another forum I'm on a guy is already trying to push the "why didn't it collapse on itself" narrative, even though they're completely differently structured buildings and one didn't have a plane flown into it. Fucking pond scum, these conspiracy heads are.
If you've ever visited council flats you would know the general shittiness that is allowed to go on, but I thought at least the fire systems are robust enough to deal with this stuff because of how strict our fire regulations are.
JonnyDBrit
Member
Khan apparently has a statement soon.
autumnleaf
Member
The death-toll is going to be so bad.
I could see a building of a few flats not having proper regulations but a building on this scale it doesn't make sense.
I could see a building of a few flats not having proper regulations but a building on this scale it doesn't make sense.
Disgusting.
Monty Mole
Member
I can't believe what I'm reading. No central fire alarm? Also can't believe the extent of the fire and how quickly it spread.
So upsetting, and some of the most vulnerable people in that building too. My thoughts are with everyone involved.
So upsetting, and some of the most vulnerable people in that building too. My thoughts are with everyone involved.
Daffy Duck
Member
Not sure if this allowed or not....Periscope feed from last night.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1RDGlZqozBDxL
Stuff of nightmares.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1RDGlZqozBDxL
Stuff of nightmares.
cyberheater
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Was that really necessary to make a joke out of this. People lost their lives and 125 families are now homeless.
Some people.
PipefishUK
Banned
This is the thing - one of these buildings (even built in 1974) should be able to contain a fire that completely guts a flat, without it spreading to others. These buildings are made of solid concrete.
There was recently a big fire at one of these types of buildings that I drive past every day. You could see on the side, about half way up, the affected flat completely burnt out but the rest of the building untouched other than smoke damage on the outside.
If it turns out that it's the cladding that caused it to spread you're going to see a lot of buildings suddenly being stripped back to concrete all of a sudden.
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