Grenfell Tower tragedy continued

[RhythmAndStealth]

Twelve people confirmed dead with that number expected to rise significantly.

Many others injured and distressed. People have lost relatives, friends and their homes.

250 firefighters in attendance, risking their lives in an unprecented fire and it's aftermath. Other emergency services and NHS staff working hard to help survivors.

Many questions to be answered.

to all those affected and everyone helping.

ThierryEnnui, I am so sorry.

Thank you all. ❤️

Details being shared are sparse at the moment, which I think is understandable given the scale of the devastation and size of the recovery operation. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm ever going to be ready to hear the detail.

She's an up and coming artist and I hope that, alongside serious changes to living conditions and building standards so that this never happens again, more people will now have the chance to see and experience her beautiful work. She will live on. 🙏🏼

I would never attempt to tackle a fire at home with a fire blanket and I have some experience in a controlled setting. Fire service advice is to get out, stay out, call out if you discover a fire.

So sorry Thierry thinking of you xx

Thierry, I'm so sorry for the loss of your beautiful friend.

I'm still struggling to get my head around the fact that I'm 2017 possibly hundreds of people are dead, because they were poor.

Whatever else is found out, that's what it boils down to.

Those people, families, babies, died because they didn't have lots of stacks of paper that humans have decided is worth more than they ever will be.

YY Civ. In a first world country. In 2017.

The following is a post from my fb friend page. It's there in black and white the horror and inexcusable shambles. :(

I would like to Thank everyone that had shared concerns and checked on me and my fam, thank you all and I love you! The whole thing is so surreal, I'm very thankful to have made it out safely from the 17th floor, thanks to my BIG SON waking us up. The fire alarms did not go off in my house as the smoke had not got to my door at that point. I live on the opposite side of the stairs. Had I waited for the fire alarm to go off in my house, by that point it would have been really difficult to get down the stairs. This is the reason why so many of my neighbours were unaware, because we have NO communal smoke alarm. The fire started and went up on one side of the building, which means the smoke alarms in the homes of the other 3 corners did not go off... Until the communal area was inandated with smoke, making it hard to see let alone get to the stairwell. The fire spread so fast if we had woken even 10/20mins later, the stairs and communal area would have been on fire/ full of smoke...

I did not speak to a member of KCTMO until 11am!! Despite being homeless and on the road for nearly 12 hours. I had to find them as they had no concern in finding us! KCTMO and RBKC I will do everything within my power to make sure you guys are taken to task!! Not just for me and mines but for ALL of my neighbours that adhered to the missinfomation given by the professionals which has now resulted in a loss of their life and their childrens. May you all Rise In Power ❤

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA TENNANT MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION AND THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON & CHELSEA WILL PAY FOR THIS NEGLIGENCE TRUST AND BELIVE!!!
#Grenfell #GrenfellTower #RBKC #KCTMO

They were crying out for months and then crying out two nights ago. It's not right.

People including firefighters desperately trying to help. Fucking nothing they could do. It's just an horrendous loss of life. Needless. Neglect. Bastards. Pen pushing jobsworths.

KCTMO and RBKC Greedy cheap tight lazy bastards

I would like to know how ply wood is allowed to be stuck onto any building
Surely it is common sense that it is extremely flammable. How, with all the building regulations and h and s was this ever allowed.
It is criminal.

Here is Boris Johnson as Mayor of London in 2013, his response to challenge about his planned cuts to fire services: 'Get stuffed'.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/watch-moment-boris-johnson-told-10630338

I keep having to stop reading and watching the news. A five year old missing, who lost hold of an adult's hand in the smoke. Dear god.

I look at my children and the very thought of this is just unbearable

It wouldn't be allowed in a theatre due to health and safety regulations. But it was ok to plaster a building that people lived in with the stuff.

I've got to this late but I know for a fact that privately owned flats at upper floors of central London ex council high rises are £500K (upwards I would guess in the posher areas). People I know have just sold their two bedder for this

Please read the screenshot on this link Its about change in regulation re fire deaths. If someone dies in hospital they wont be counted in government figures

twitter.com/Cage_Rattle/status/875425764262465536

I do not know why we are all so surprised by this. Tory, Labour. Councils, landlords. All cutting. Many doing the bare minimum. Negligence. Greed. We've seen it all before.

Why cant they change legislation on this quickly. They managed it with workfare quick enough retrospectively when Cait Reilly won her case!

The big issue here is the cladding. The FBU first published a report on aluminium composite cladding in 1999. In 2006, Lakanal House happened which was a cladding fire. This thread lists cladding fires all over the world, with shocking pictures:

www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1801571

Building regs seem to never change unless there's a tragedy. But, there is a list circulating on forums, of 21 tower blocks fitted with the same composite panels, by the same company that did Grenfell, to the same spec. I won't post the list here, but the priority has to be sorting these blocks out.

www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1801571

There will be hundreds of buildings up and down the country with similar panels. Maybe they are safe, but again, they need to be checked out.

A wider review of building regs/occupancy/landlord obligations will take too long/get bogged down. Sort the cladding out first as the top, top priority!

Ha Someone on Channel 4 news said that fire deaths are going down.

He obvs hasnt seen the above screenshot.

I am so sorry Thierry

I read about the person who must be your friend when she was reported missing. And I am so sad to hear is now known she did not make it out.

There is far too much sub contracting of work going on. It makes it too easy to pass the buck.

"to be fair, the not leaving your flat advice makes sense as it has worked in other cases and so is proper advice."

Sure, it would work IF the building was constructed with materials that respect fire regulations, with fire retardant & non-flammable materials AND IF proper fire barriers were put in place between floors & different sections. IF you are reasonably sure that the fire will not actually spread much beyond its point of origin before firefighters come and put it out.

That's a lot of IFs.

Personally, the only way I would be sure of the above and stay in my apartment in a burning building is if I knew how it was designed & built.

In all other circumstances, I'm grabbing DC and getting the hell out of there faster than you can say "Fire guidance".

"From what i've heard so far the problem is with wrapping it in cladding that has a void behind it to act like a chimney."

I have said this before but here it goes again:

Cladding always forms a vertical cavity, and it is not the only one in a building. There are regulations that say what kind of materials can/should be used in cavities AND exactly how barriers must be placed in such cavities to stop fire from spreading like a flash.

Those regulations and more can be found in this document. The part about the construction of cavities is on page 33.

Those regulations were clearly ignored in this case. Heads should roll.

I'm so sorry Thierry. This is so awful

Most insurance companies had a huge issue with buildings with composite panels and regularly defined to insure them for fire - this was 20 years ago

There is a list of do's and don't for this type of cladding - do to the quick nature of any fire

Things should've moved on - but makes me wonder if the building was insured? The third party liability /injury claim will be huge