Latimer Road fire: Huge fire engulfs west London flats

[moe666]

Interesting not one commit about safety, or where was the sprinkler system. If it had happen in Thailand one unending barrage of stupid, no safety, no common sense. Yes a few poster on here have a problem with Thais.

 

My best wishes go out to the victims of a very preventable situation. Hope they all got out but doubtful 

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, moe666 said:

Interesting not one commit about safety, or where was the sprinkler system. If it had happen in Thailand one unending barrage of stupid, no safety, no common sense. Yes a few poster on here have a problem with Thais.

 

My best wishes go out to the victims of a very preventable situation. Hope they all got out but doubtful 

Seems the UK can be just as unsafe as Thailand at times. This should not happen and they were warned before. 

[Basil B]

13 minutes ago, steven100 said:

ok .... now get the perpetrators and kill them. 

I can see manslaughter and corporate manslaughter charges looming...

[steven100]

3 minutes ago, robblok said:

Seems the UK can be just as unsafe as Thailand at times. This should not happen and they were warned before. 

hmmm ... thailand is safe .... not sure about london though ... just my thoughts.

[robblok]

1 minute ago, Basil B said:

I can see manslaughter and corporate manslaughter charges looming...

I hope so.. at least in the UK and other European countries the people responsible will be held accountable. If smoke alarms and sprinklers did not work.. then someone is responsible. I would never have thought that something like this would be happening in a western European country. Thailand.. sure.. but I thought they were quite safety minded in Europe.

[Basil B]

13 minutes ago, overherebc said:

I've been watching it on BBC since the news broke. It was so fast from lower levels to the complete building being on fire it was difficult to believe. About 1 hour after the first call to the emergency srvices the building was burning bottom to top with only one bottom corner seeming to be not burning.

One resident reported that his neighbour woke him to say his fridge motor had gone on fire and set fire to his kitchen.

No-one really knows at the moment.

I have not heard of fridges going up in flames and wonder if it was a misunderstanding and it was a dryer, Hotpoint are still replacing faulty dryers that are at risk of self combustion.  

[robblok]

Just now, steven100 said:

hmmm ... thailand is safe .... not sure about london though ... just my thoughts.

Repeat after me Santika... 

[dabhand]

Would not be surprised if the spread of the fire was enhanced by the recent upgrade which included installation of external cladding. Possibly same scenario as with the recent tower block fires in Dubai.

 

Luckily it appears that the Ramadan activities meant that a number of the residents were still awake, despite the timing of when the fire took hold.

 

Seems to be a distinct lack of fire safety systems (alarms / sprinklers) despite having a recent Stg10m refurbishment. Many questions to be answered by the local authority.   

[DipStick]

After following this from early  morning, I cannot get my head around the fact that the fire supposedly started on the second floor, but in a very short time had 25 storeys above it blazing.

the flames and heat were so intense the Fire Brigade had to use their aerial towers remotely from the ground. Two words spring to mind, accelerants and arson!

Another thing that struck me were the witnesses and those giving statements, without exception, they all had Asian and Arabic names, is it possible this was a revenge attack ? Food for thought !

 

[Rc2702]

Seems a but odd that fire. Nothing should be ruled out. Could be coordinated.

[overherebc]

Now being reported that there are fatalities but as yet no numbers being given.

Some residents being interviewed are telling of people throwing children to people on the ground with others trying to climb down the outside using sheets etc. I fear a lot more sad reports to come.

The whole thing is really horrendous.

[Black arab]

Pretty sure himos will not have sprinkler systems or communal alarms.Each flat should have an alarm fitted.These buildi ngs are built generally from concrete 

ie walls floors cielings and have fire doors fitted to front entrance, stairwells.So they are compartmented to prevent fire spread inside.But if a fascia has been fitted which isnt upto standard fiited on the outside and this ignites then heat from this will rise causing the above panels to burn breaking windows through heat and the fire then spreading inside as the fire rises more air will be induced to feed the fire increasing the speed if spread yet again.A candle effect and very hot

[stevenl]

8 minutes ago, DipStick said:

After following this from early  morning, I cannot get my head around the fact that the fire supposedly started on the second floor, but in a very short time had 25 storeys above it blazing.

the flames and heat were so intense the Fire Brigade had to use their aerial towers remotely from the ground. Two words spring to mind, accelerants and arson!

Another thing that struck me were the witnesses and those giving statements, without exception, they all had Asian and Arabic names, is it possible this was a revenge attack ? Food for thought !

 

Not food for thought, just mindless speculation.

[Andaman Al]

57 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Another thought I had was a Dryer, I think Hotpoints Whirlpool Corp's share may tumble today.

is that an attempt at a sick joke?

 

37 minutes ago, steven100 said:

ok .... now get the perpetrators and kill them. 

What part do people not understand about "an eye witness has reported that his neighbours kitchen was set on fire by a burning motor in his fridge". This is not an ISIS fridge or a National Front Fridge it is just a fridge. ANYTHING connected to the mains can go up in flames if it goes faulty.

 

If true that this building was fully refurbished, I hope the contractors did not try and save money by using sub standard materials.

[PattayaJames]

5 minutes ago, Black arab said:

Pretty sure himos will not have sprinkler systems or communal alarms.Each flat should have an alarm fitted.These buildi ngs are built generally from concrete 

ie walls floors cielings and have fire doors fitted to front entrance, stairwells.So they are compartmented to prevent fire spread inside.But if a fascia has been fitted which isnt upto standard fiited on the outside and this ignites then heat from this will rise causing the above panels to burn breaking windows through heat and the fire then spreading inside as the fire rises more air will be induced to feed the fire increasing the speed if spread yet again.A candle effect and very hot

You can see from the early footage the fire spread on the outside of the building, and very fast. Cladding is to blame for the expansion of the fire for sure.

[overherebc]

5 minutes ago, PattayaJames said:

You can see from the early footage the fire spread on the outside of the building, and very fast. Cladding is to blame for the expansion of the fire for sure.

One resident saying it was a plastic like cladding.

Doesn't sound good.

[DipStick]

9 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

Are you saying this is a building that houses muslims?

If you read what I said, never mentioned who or what nationalities, or religions were housed there, I said witnesses, who just happened to have names that I alluded to

[Black arab]

Everything has an auto ignition temp on ce thst is reached its almost impossible to stop it at that hieght.The flames would jump from one floor above to the next

[In the jungle]

Contractor for the refurb that completed in 2016 was Rydon.  It mentions re-cladding the building on their website but does not give detail.

[overherebc]

Some residents reporting they were woken by the smell of burning plastic and that smoke alarms did go off in the corridors but no-one could hear them when inside their flats.

[webfact]

Some killed in London tower block fire: fire brigade

 

Smoke billows as firefighters tackle a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A number of people have been killed in a huge fire which engulfed a 27-story block of flats in central London on Wednesday, London Fire Brigade said.

 

At least 30 people have been injured in the fire which engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the Grenfell Tower, where several hundred people lived.

 

"At this time I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities, I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building," Dany Cotton, Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade told reporters.

 

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-14

[PattayaJames]

6 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

Contractor for the refurb that completed in 2016 was Rydon.  It mentions re-cladding the building on their website but does not give detail.

They need to get on this quick.

If I was a terrorist I would be looking at any other buildings with the same cladding, would only take a few molotov cocktails, and job done.

[Basil B]

15 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

1 hour ago, Basil B said:

Another thought I had was a Dryer, I think Hotpoints Whirlpool Corp's share may tumble today.

is that an attempt at a sick joke?

No...

 

There have been a number a lot of house fires due to Hotpoint (and other rebaged hotpoint dryers) catching fire.

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-11-23/significant-number-of-hotpoint-indesit-and-creda-tumble-dryers-pose-a-fire-risk/

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/feb/22/hotpoint-indesit-tumble-dryers-fire-risk-whirlpool-creda-proline

 

Just google hotpoint fire hazard tumble dryer

[steven100]

7 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

Contractor for the refurb that completed in 2016 was Rydon.  It mentions re-cladding the building on their website but does not give detail.

It won't be the contractors fault ..... he is only putting on what was requested by the architect 

[WhyYouTalkMeBad]

hmmm ... thailand is safe .... not sure about london though ... just my thoughts.

What happened to all the "just another reason not to buy a condo in the UK posts?
I bet there are thousands of other buildings with the same level of fireproofing

[Usernames]

Third World building codes and safety standards.

[overherebc]

Latest footage shows almost no cladding remaining on 90% of the building. It has all disappeared.

[CaptHaddock]

In New York City the firemen who would come to our office building every year for the fire drill and safety talk would always point out that no fire in any high rise building in NYC had ever spread to more than three floors because the construction of the building is designed to contain fires for some period (one hour?) and the fire department always gets there in eight to ten minutes and puts it out before it can spread.  (The exception was 9/11 of course.)  I am shocked that a high rise can burn like this in London.  Where are the fire barriers?  Where are the sprinkler systems?

[webfact]

Some dead, at least 50 taken to hospital, as fire engulfs London tower block

By Kylie MacLellan and Lina Saigol

 

Smoke billows as firefighters deal with a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Fire engulfed a 24-storey block of flats in central London on Wednesday, killing some people, injuring at least 50 more and trapping some residents asleep inside the towering inferno.

 

Flames licked up the sides of the block in the north Kensington area as 200 firefighters, backed up by 40 fire engines, fought the blaze for hours.

 

Smoke billows as firefighters deal with a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

Plumes of black and grey smoke billowed high into the air over the British capital hours after the blaze broke out at the Grenfell Tower where several hundred people live.

 

Residents rushed to escape through smoke-filled corridors in the housing block after being woken up by the smell of burning. Some said no fire alarm sounded.

 

Witnesses said they saw trapped residents desperately shouting for help from windows on upper floors as flames enveloped the building.

 

Smoke billows as firefighters deal with a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

London Fire Brigade said the fire engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the block which contained 130 apartments.

 

"In my 29 years of being a fire fighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale," London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters

 

"I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities, I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building."

 

MORE THAN 50 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL

 

London Ambulance Service said more than 50 people had been taken to hospital. A witness told Reuters she feared not all the residents had escaped the fire. Some were evacuated in their pyjamas.

 

"I looked through the spy hole and I could see smoke everywhere and the neighbours are all there. There's a fireman shouting 'get down the stairs'," one of the block's residents, Michael Paramasivan, told BBC radio. "It was an inferno."

 

"As we went past the fourth floor it was completely thick black smoke. As we’ve gone outside I’m looking up at the block and it was just going up. It was like pyrotechnics. It was just unbelievable how quick it was burning."

 

The cause of the fire, which broke out just before 1 a.m. (0000 GMT), was not known, the Fire Brigade said.

 

Residents said repairs had been made recently to the exterior of the block.

 

Ash Sha, 30, who witnessed the fire and has an aunt in the building who managed to escape from the second floor, said the local council had renovated the tower.

 

"One year ago the council renovated the building both externally and internally," Sha said.

 

"They cladded the outside and insulated the inside. The insulated material is very similar to sponge so it crumbles in your hand. This was just done to tart it up and match the nearby building."

 

The local council of Kensington and Chelsea, which owns the block, said its focus was on supporting the rescue and relief operation. It said the causes of the fire would be fully investigated.

 

More than 20 ambulance crews were at the scene. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said a "major incident" had been declared. Police closed the A40, a major road leading out of west London, while some parts of London's underground train network were closed as a precaution.

 

"There was bits of building falling off all around me, I scalded my shin on a hot piece of metal that had fallen off the building," said Jodie Martin, who lives close to the building and sought to save people from the fire.

 

"I was just screaming at people: 'Get out, get out' and they were screaming back at me: 'We can't, the corridors are full of smoke'," he told BBC Radio.

 

(Additional reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Lina Saigol, Costas Pitas; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel, Richard Balmforth)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-14

[sandrabbit]

As someone mentioned there will corporate manslaughter charges levelled now, whoever specified the outer cladding is in trouble (the company). The cladding should have been Rockslab (a Rockwool dense product) or derivative which would withstand 1200degC for 30 mins and doesn't actually catch fire it melts to stone. I think it's been a legal requirement in the UK for years, I used to work for Rockwool and I'm pretty sure  that it's been a regulation since before I left more than 10 yrs ago. I think someone has been cost cutting as Rockwool slab was something like £400 a 6*4m sheet before I left.

Edited June 14, 2017 by sandrabbit