Grenfell Tower

[RhythmAndStealth]

Watching the news just now and I can't believe my eyes. It looks absolutely horrific.

I want to think everyone got out safe, but sadly I just can't.

Some of the news reports are about alleged poor safety standards and dangerous living conditions. If that's true it just beggars belief.

Victims may also have been sent to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford - they have a burns unit.

I'm in Chelmsford and I was wondering if that would have happened.

DearMrDilkington - 74 people have been treated in hospitals and I have seen on TV several eyewitness from the building being talked to who are uninjured but no specific number of how many people escaped or were rescued uninjured have been released. Plus at least 6 dead but one report is saying nobody from top 3-4 floors has so far been accounted for.

ThierryEnnui

We had some work done at home, just one home with 4 of us in and we had to fit a fire suppression system to keep our local building control happy, how this building with many hundreds of people in wasn't met with a similar level of scrutiny is beyond belief.

Official statement being made now. They don't know how many people are missing. They are saying its still ongoing operation.

But a couple of that 74 injured might be Fire fighters as an eyewitness saw a couple suffering from breathing difficulties.

The landlord of these flats is the royal borough of kensington and Chelsea. Repeatedly warned but no enforcement action taken. Because the enforcers are the council??

but one report is saying nobody from top 3-4 floors has so far been accounted for.

How awful.

ThierryEnnui my thoughts are with you

Theresa May’s new chief of staff failed to carry out a review of fire regulations in tower blocks – despite being warned of the potential for a devastating blaze.

Former Housing Minster Gavin Barwell – who was given a top Downing Street job within days of losing his seat last week – refused to give a date for when the review of regulations would take place just eight months ago.

The review was called for after an inquest into a tower block fire in Camberwell, south-east London, which killed six people and injured 20 in 2009, ruled the regulations covering such buildings were not up to scratch.

Another coroner ruled in 2013 that all high-rise buildings should be retro-fitted with sprinklers - but Barwell’s predecessor as Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said it was not the “responsibility” of the Government to pass such a law.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfell-tower-fire-gavin-barwell_uk_59410ecbe4b09ad4fbe45929

Is it still on fire?

Oh God, that certainly wasn't the intention with my post either - I was more commenting on why the 'stay put' policy was the right one in some cases and how general living compromises that. Ultimately if any of the factors I mentioned did contribute to the fire then the management should be taken to task as the 'responsible people' - residents aren't expected to know about it, it's why the mgt should be on the ball with keeping sterile areas clear and fire doors shut as they're really simple and basically free ways to help prevent the spread of fire.

Hi all,

Thanks for the reports.

This is a dreadful tragedy and our thoughts go out to everyone involved.

Please can we ask folks not to speculate at this time? Conspiracy theories just aren't appropriate right now, and we will remove them. If there's anything we've missed, please do let us know by hitting the report button.

OnionKnight And in 2009 Labour ignored a report into the dangers associated with tower blocks. Turning this into a Labour vs Conservative shit storm is not the way forward; it is the responsibility of all governments that have been in power, and it is the future responsibility of all governments that will be in power to figure out what went wrong and to rectify it.

There was a guy on the news, he and his family got out. He was saying that it's great how everyone pulls together offering beds etc... but if they take that offer and don't use whatever emergency plan is in place then they won't be seen as homeless as they have a roof etc.

I'm not trying to turn it into a shitstorm but the consequences of this tragedy will be far reaching.

From Shelter website:

"Examples of situations where the council should consider you to be homeless even though you have accommodation include:

you have no home where you can live together with your immediate family
you can only stay where you are on a very temporary basis
you don't have permission to live where you are
you have been locked out of home and you aren't allowed back
you can't live at home because of violence or abuse or threats of violence or abuse, which are likely to be carried out against you or someone else in your household
it isn't reasonable for you to stay in your home for any reason (for example, if your home is in very poor condition)
you can't afford to stay where you are
you live in a vehicle or boat and you have nowhere to put it"

Yes aside from the loss of life I think there will be a lot of fallout from this tragedy. A lot of fingers pointed at a lot of organisations.

I think everyone should calm down and wait for the official reports before making wild assumptions, talking about manslaughter, inflammable cladding etc. No-one knows, but people are so quick to latch on to anyone or thing to blame.
A pp is correct, there can be all the fire safety measures in the world in place, but the simple fact is, people compromise them. The idea that flats should be inspected weekly is unworkable within the law - landlords cannot enter without permission unless there is an emergency, which routine checking would not be.
I am as sure as I can be that the council would be following the current legislation regarding fire safety in the block, especially as it had just been refurbished. To suggest they were not is speculative, to say the least.
I used to work in the local press, and wild accusations always fly around after any tragedy, so it stands to reason the accusations are flying after such a massively horrific event, but please, step back and cut the hysteria.

WRT to the fridge, that grenfell action group blog says they had power surges in May 2013, "On 11th May 2013 at 9:05pm we had numerous power surges in the space of a minute, and in that process my computer and monitor literally exploded with smoke seeping out from the back and the smell of burnt electronics filled our entire computer. My monitor also fused at the same time."
so if it is the fridge, it may be not a fault with the fridge?

Don't want to perpetuate any conspiracy theory's, but are they saying this is due to some shoddy construction rather than an act of terrorism?

This is so awful. Thoughts with all those affected

Biscusting I have seen no mention of terrorism. There has been mention of a cigarette being dropped and hitting the neighbour's laundry and a fridge exploding.

Yeah. This will become a seminal event in regards to fire safety and living conditions in tower block. One those disasters remembered for a long while because of its aftermath.
I think small parts of the building are still smoulding.

Reports suggest it was likely an common cause of a flat fire which sadly spread way out of control.