Grenfell Tower Fire | 14th June 2017

pauldyson1uk said:
Multiple eyewitnesses report residents have begun jumping from high windows.
Read this on Facebook :(
Click to expand...

We should really be in a day and age where if someone jumps - there should be something for them to land on to save lives. It might not be perfect but give them hope and get people out quicker. The last thing people want to do is jump and I think with so many tall buildings, this should be addressed. Climbing down a big ladder? Not a great option. Jumping? No. There needs to be innovation. Some sort of giant airbag or something. There is no point building higher and higher if safety is not being considered.Those responsible should be locked up and throw away the key.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
watching Sky news this is gut wrenching, people trying to contact friends and seeing people on the top floor.
The building is still well on fire, sadly I cant see this ending without fatalities.
Click to expand...


140units with 3-4 people per flat. Firemen couldnt go up higher than the 6th floor.

It doesnt look good.
 
people are making a big thing about a cladding put round the building in the past couple of years, if that is found to be the cause of the fire spreading so fast, the ones that installed it are in a whole load of trouble.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
people are making a big thing about a cladding put round the building in the past couple of years, if that is found to be the cause of the fire spreading so fast, the ones that installed it are in a whole load of trouble.
Click to expand...

Cheap chinese aluminium cladding used to 'dress up' the building, likely a product called Alucobest, there was a fire a few years ago in australia (lacrosse fire) where it contributed to the spread of the fire quickly

Been reading a few bits about a grenfell action group saying the building was dangerous and a disaster waiting to happen, they had been told to stay in their homes if there was a fire, but apparently the building has no sprinklers or integrated alarm system

Huge tragedy :( i hope im wrong but im expecting huge numbers of casualties/fatalities
 
Striker10 said:
We should really be in a day and age where if someone jumps - there should be something for them to land on to save lives. It might not be perfect but give them hope and get people out quicker. The last thing people want to do is jump and I think with so many tall buildings, this should be addressed. Climbing down a big ladder? Not a great option. Jumping? No. There needs to be innovation. Some sort of giant airbag or something. There is no point building higher and higher if safety is not being considered.Those responsible should be locked up and throw away the key.
Click to expand...
You reach something approaching terminal velocity rather quickly. Even water 'turns into concrete' at height.
 
20solskjaer said:
Cheap chinese aluminium cladding used to 'dress up' the building, likely a product called Alucobest, there was a fire a few years ago in australia (lacrosse fire) where it contributed to the spread of the fire quickly

Been reading a few bits about a grenfell action group saying the building was dangerous and a disaster waiting to happen, they had been told to stay in their homes if there was a fire, but apparently the building has no sprinklers or integrated alarm system

Huge tragedy :( i hope im wrong but im expecting huge numbers of casualties/fatalities
Click to expand...
A building like that and no fire systems !! The is criminal.
I am also expecting a large number of fatalities :(
 
Striker10 said:
We should really be in a day and age where if someone jumps - there should be something for them to land on to save lives. It might not be perfect but give them hope and get people out quicker. The last thing people want to do is jump and I think with so many tall buildings, this should be addressed. Climbing down a big ladder? Not a great option. Jumping? No. There needs to be innovation. Some sort of giant airbag or something. There is no point building higher and higher if safety is not being considered.Those responsible should be locked up and throw away the key.
Click to expand...

We've had them for over 200 years, just google Ingstrom escape chute, basically a large sock like slide that you can hang out from the side of a building and slide multiple people down at the same time as the fabric squeezes them slowing their rate of descent. I've only ever seen them in theory though and have only heard of them actually being used in Japan.

Not sure it would have been much use in this case though, looking at the spread of the flames I'd suspect the cladding that @pauldyson1uk mentioned was a likely culprit, with high rise construction there's really no way a fire should rise that fast internally as there would have been fire stops between every floor and apartment that should last at least 30 minutes each. When these things happen in Asia it's usually just one apartment that burns out with all the others evacuating safely, we did it ourselves at 2AM from the 22nd floor of our first place in Hong Kong and the only pain was the 2 hour wait for clearance to go back in and then the choice of an hour waiting for the lift or 44 flights of stairs back up.

Here's hoping there's not too many dead but it doesn't look good, it does worry me with the cuts to our fire services that we're becoming far less able to deal with these major incidents when they occur. Back when there were fewer controls on the materials used in furnishings and fewer smoke alarms and people did die in their own homes in fires the government would have found it very hard to cut services the way they do now but as everything in life is made safer we forget why we need the emergency services for the thankfully rare major incidents.
 
No central fire alarm in a building this high and a fire spreading at that rate... Sadly there were always going to be fatalities.
 
Confirmed fatalities according to BBC. Hard to see it being a small amount.
 
Hopefully a long jail sentence for more than a few
 
Ainu said:
No central fire alarm in a building this high and a fire spreading at that rate... Sadly there were always going to be fatalities.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The question now is simply how many...
 
Feck :( Criminal negligence if those allegations are true
 
This is horrific and heartbreaking. Hats off to the firefighters and local authorities working so hard trying to save lives.
 
From The Guardian:
Estate resident Ahmed Chellat, who spoke to Alice earlier, has been told that his relatives are safe after they were told to stay in their 21st storey flat with wet towels under the doors.

His sister, brother-in-law, and their two children were advised to stay in the flat and that help was on its way. He told ITV they were safe.
Click to expand...

I can't comprehend how this would possible, looking at the extent of the fire. But if these people were able to survive this way, there's at least hope for others as well.
 
Ainu said:
From The Guardian:


I can't comprehend how this would possible, looking at the extent of the fire. But if these people were able to survive this way, there's at least hope for others as well.
Click to expand...
Provided the windows were closed and don't break there should not really be a route for the fire to enter individual apartments if it really is a cladding fire. Smoke is another matter though so it sounds like the message worked, hopefully there are more like them.
 
Ainu said:
From The Guardian:


I can't comprehend how this would possible, looking at the extent of the fire. But if these people were able to survive this way, there's at least hope for others as well.
Click to expand...

There appeared to be one section of the building that was not engulfed in flames but still hard to believe they escaped the smoke. Thankfully some were fortunate, hope there are others.
 
Wet towels under the doors , FFS what do they think it is a fecking film, looking at the footage that would not be close to helping.

Gets wprse all the time, Witnesses describe hearing screams, watching people jump out the burning building and a woman holding a baby out of a window.
 
Last edited:
Can't imagine what it must be like to be caught in a fire like that. Horrifying.

Reading the blog from some residents, there are some people that should be held accountable for this.
 
fecking hell, that's grim...For the people trapped, you can only hope the smoke got them before the flames...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.