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.

Devastating.

it's awful, just awful, my heart goes out to everyone affected.

Will these people be compensated by the council or will they be expected to claim from their insurance ?

Something similar happened in Dubai.

I think it was the cladding there as well.

I see Coral, I guess it must vary from LA to LA.
Forgive my LEA mistake, too many years working in Education.

It feels like we are living in a third world country. What happened to building regs? Fire alarms? Fire escapes? Social housing has been a disaster waiting to happen since the Tories started selling off council houses.

Orlantina In Dubai there have been three similar fires (caused by cladding) I don't think there were any casualties though as the other systems worked correctly.

CondensedMilkSarnies Unlikely many of these residents will have insurance.

very sad to see this on the news this morning I have also seen posts on Facebook saying it could terrorist relatednobody really knows that went on it's shocking to know that people either had to jump on stay there it's heart breaking

Why were they told to stay in their flats and not get the hell out? Fucking hell, that's cost lives.

Coral I'm sure many don't have insurance.

expatinscotland Wasn't there so I don't know, but the advice is if you cannot get out, it's safer to stay in your flat, call 999, and wait to be rescued (this actually is good advice when all systems work, it is the safest option).

Absolutely horrific. The scale of this sort of thing is difficult to comprehend.

That blog is chilling. Residents knew the tower block was an accident waiting to happen and that their concerns wouldn't be heard until lives were lost. What a terrifying way to live, and an absolutely tragic outcome.

I cannot even think about the potential loss of life.

Awful. I know my thoughts and wishes have absolutely no use for the residents and families of those effected but I have nothing else to give.

I hope that as many people as possible got out alive and that the fatality count is low.

I'm just watching this on the BBC news now. Water from the fire brigade's hoses only reaches about 1/3 of the way up, so the fires above that level are just burning out of control!

So terrible. Surely this is everyone's worst nightmare. That building looks like it was covered in accelerant before it was set on fire. It looks like the WTC on 9/11.

Why were they told to stay in their flats and not get the hell out?

This seems so wrong. Fire doors only withstand fire for a relatively short period of time.

I can't believe that it has taken a major disaster like this to finally get anyone to listen to the concerns of the residents.

It's disgusting to think this could have been prevented, but, again, down to money and cost cutting the lives of 700+ people have been put at risk.

Can someone post a link to any way we can help, official fundraising page or a way to donate clothes or toys etc when there is one please.

I suspect they were to stay put because no one expected the block to go up like this . It's unheard of , in this awfulness. If they were told to evacuate , then imagine 120 flats full of people , which would be a conservative guess of 600 people , trying to get 27 floors down one set of stairs as fast as you can because the lifts wouldn't be working , whilst being blinded by smoke, and panicking as large groups of people inevitably do . People would still have died . Can you imagine that 70 year old partially blind guy trying to do that ? No one expected the thing to go up like a candle .

I used to know this tower block - in fact I worked in and around the whole Lancaster West estate for years , and that blog doesn't surprise me at all .

Sickening that this was refurbed last year and the fire spread so fast. Like unbelievably fast. What materials did they use?

Thoughts are with those affected by this, horrific incident.

Those in charge of KCTMO need to go to prison for this.

There's a number of just giving pages set up already for anyone that would like to help those impacted.

I've donated to this one already, but there are others as well:

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/grenfell-fire

Probably phenolic foam cladding is to blame, they make the huge panels with the foam insulation in the middle and the outside are clad in steel. They are great for thermal and noise insulation but fatal in a fire.

Stone wool would have been a better choice as it resists fire for 4 hours but as always cost comes into it and the cheaper stuff is used.

There should be laws passed on the use of this stuff.

We build massive tower blocks and skyscrapers. Building them taller and taller. There are so many potential tragedies waiting to happen if appropriate safety regulations aren't in place.

Wtf, how is it allowed to have passed safety inspections? I'm assuming there actually are safety inspections for a building which houses hundreds of people.

Sickening

I have a very good friend who lived in this block until a couple of years ago and I've been there many times. Tower blocks have a bad reputation but Grenfell had a brilliant sense of community.
It was known among residents years ago about the fire risk. Those poor people. I hope someone goes to jail for this.

It is absolutely chilling. At first look, there seems to have been no safe way for all of the residents to be evacuated. Those poor people. Horrific.