London Tower Block Inferno

[filthy1980]

looks absolutely horrific

I'm just hoping people leave a reasonable amount of time before the usual C**Ts politicise this

[PurpleGorilla]

Lessons must be learnt

[SueEllen]

Horrendous! Feels like I'm watching twin towers again. Poor souls stuck inside, and you know many didn't get out. Jump or suffer the fire - what a choice for the poor people.

Refurbished recently...... On the cheap?!?

The outside cladding was oil-based polystyrene and has caused problems in Middle East.

[NotAllThere]

Residents were told in a fire to stay in flat (behind fire door) with a wet towel on the floor...

The people alive ignored that advice.

Like the Korean kids on the ferry.

Use your wits, don't blindly follow... Easy to say.

The point is not that expert advice is always right, rather that if you follow expert advice you are more likely to survive than if you don't. Unless you have enough information and knowledge to know that the expert advice is not appropriate in the current situation, you should not follow your wits.

[vetran]

The outside cladding was oil-based polystyrene and has caused problems in Middle East.

Yes this one, I thought at the time if they were using that elsewhere then more deaths were likely.

https://www.thestar.com/business/201...n-inferno.html

I cannot see how they passed their fire inspection if the alarm & sprinklers weren't working.

Poor people, horrific for them.

[SueEllen]

Lessons must be learnt

What?

1. Don't do tower block building work on the cheap?

2. Don't let residents alter kitchen and bathrooms on their own like with the Barbican Centre?

[Chuck]

If the cladding is attached to battens, creating a gap between the building and the cladding, that's a perfect space to draw air, and thus flame, up the full height of the building very quickly. Temperatures will rise extremely fast and the building is as good as lost.

There are bound to be standards for the fire resistance of the battens and the cladding, but one the temperature reaches a critical point, that's it.

[PurpleGorilla]

The point is not that expert advice is always right, rather that if you follow expert advice you are more likely to survive than if you don't. Unless you have enough information and knowledge to know that the expert advice is not appropriate in the current situation, you should not follow your wits.

It's a difficult one. Yes, expert advise is usually best to follow, but don't blindly follow it either.

Improvise Adapt Overcome

[VectraMan]

The councillor that was on TV this morning said that with the recent refurb it should have been the safest tower block in the area.

You'd hope that today's standards are vastly superior to what was used when these buildings were built in the 60s. I'm sure we'll find out in many months time. Combination of factors nobody thought was possible probably.

When I turned on the TV and saw a burning tower block I did immediately think it was another 9/11.

[OwlHoot]

It's amazing that these tall tower blocks aren't compelled to have a huge water tank on the roof, from where a sprinkler system can automatically draw water to douse any fire before it spreads.

Actually, it isn't very surprising at all, because that would cost a few extra pennies.