Massive Fire in London High Rise

[Minnie]

London just can't catch a break lately. There is live video at the link.

Link

A massive fire raced through a high-rise apartment building in west London early Wednesday, sending at least 30 people to hospitals, emergency officials said.

Flames shot from windows all the way up the side of the 27-floor Grenfell Tower in North Kensington as firefighters battled the blaze, and a plume of smoke could be seen for several kilometres.

The blaze started around 1 a.m. London time (5.30 a.m. IST), and ambulance crews were still at the scene more than five hours later. It was not clear if residents were trapped, but people at the scene spoke of not being able to reach friends and family who had been inside.

London Ambulance said that 30 patients have been taken to five hospitals in London following the Grenfell Tower fire.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan says on Twitter: “Major incident declared at Grenfell Tower in Kensington. 40 fire engines & 200 firefighters at the scene - follow @LondonFire for updates.”

[Minnie]

More recent update now (approx 10 minutes ago) has officials confirming fatalities but no actual numbers have been given.

10M ago
London fire commissioner Dany Cotton is giving a statement. She said fire fighters arrived within six minutes.

She confirms that there have been a number of fatalities. She could not confirm numbers because of the complexity of the building.

32M ago

If you’re just waking up, here’s what you need to know about the devastating blaze at Grenfell Tower.

• The apartment block on the Lancaster West estate in north Kensington continues to burn after the fire brigade was alerted shortly before 1am Wednesday.
• Forty fire engines and over 200 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze through the early morning, “working extremely hard in very difficult conditions” to tackle the “large and very serious incident”.
• Though many witnesses said they saw people trapped inside their homes, emergency services gave no further details beyond saying that 30 patients were taken to five hospitals.
• The fire brigade is expected to give an update soon; areas of the building are still on fire, prompting concerns it may collapse.
• About 30 flats in the surrounding area have been evacuated and emergency rest centres have been set up for those told to leave their homes.
• Police have set up an emergency number for people concerned for friends and families on 0800 0961 233.
• A resident group repeatedly warned of a fire risk at the tower, claiming that a major fire had been narrowly averted after a power surge in 2013.
• The building recently underwent significant, multimillion-pound renovations that concluded in early 2016.
• The borough of Kensington and Chelsea said the cause of the fire will be investigated, but for now the focus is on supporting emergency services in their rescue and relief operation.

[Minnie]

Fire Commissioner Cotton's statement, just posted:

This is an unprecedented incident. In my 29 years of being a firefighter I have never ever seen anything of this scale. Firefighters are working very hard at the moment.

This is a major fire that effected all floors of this 24 storey building from the second floor upwards. I have over 200 of my firefighters and officers attending this incident, with 40 fire engines and a range of specialist vehicles, including 14 fire rescue units. We declared this a major incident very early this morning ... the first call coming in at 12.54. Our first fire engines were on the scene in under six minutes.

Crews wearing breathing apparatus and extended duration breathing apparatus have been working in extremely challenging and very difficult conditions to rescue people and bring this major fire under control.

London Ambulance Service have confirmed that 30 people have been taken to five hospitals.

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. It would clearly be wrong for me to speculate further.

Equally the cause of this fire is not known at this stage.

We are working very closely with our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Service to bring this situation under control.

Further information will be made available shortly including advice for those concerned about those who are working here and people who live here.

Link to pictures at The Guardian website

[Roast Beef]

I don't even know what to say, I have no words.....those poor people...

[ToewsFan]

Didn't the highrise have a sprinkler system?

Horrible. Worst thing I have seen since 9/11 and the WTC. I can only imagine what those poor people on the higher floors are going through. Dying by fire is said to be the most excruciating way to perish.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

Didn't the highrise have a sprinkler system?

Haven't seen anything about that yet, but I have read varying accounts that the building was being refurbished (alleged $10M reno), that the fire traveled up and engulfed the building in as little as 15 minutes, and there is a blog post by the Grenfell Action Group who has been intensely critical of the building management/owners and who believe this sort of disaster was narrowly averted in 2013 after a power surge caused by faulty wiring. The blog post was published Nov 20, 2016. There are a number of links to other blog posts by the Grenfell Action Group that I haven't had a chance to read yet.

Their statement:

KCTMO – Playing with fire!

It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders. We believe that the KCTMO are an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia who have no business to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the every day management of large scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster.

Unfortunately, the Grenfell Action Group have reached the conclusion that only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO residents will allow the external scrutiny to occur that will shine a light on the practices that characterise the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation. We believe that the KCTMO have ensured their ongoing survival by the use of proxy votes at their Annual General Meeting that see them returned with a mandate of 98% in favour of the continuation of their inept and highly dangerous management of our homes. It is no coincidence that the 98% is the same figure that is returned by the infamous Kim Jong-un of North Korea who claims mass popularity while reputedly enslaving the general population and starving the majority of his people to death.

It is our conviction that a serious fire in a tower block or similar high density residential property is the most likely reason that those who wield power at the KCTMO will be found out and brought to justice! The Grenfell Action Group believe that the KCTMO narrowly averted a major fire disaster at Grenfell Tower in 2013 when residents experienced a period of terrifying power surges that were subsequently found to have been caused by faulty wiring. We believe that our attempts to highlight the seriousness of this event were covered up by the KCTMO with the help of the RBKC Scrutiny Committee who refused to investigate the legitimate concerns of tenants and leaseholders.

We have blogged many times on the subject of fire safety at Grenfell Tower and we believe that these investigations will become part of damning evidence of the poor safety record of the KCTMO should a fire affect any other of their properties and cause the loss of life that we are predicting:

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpres...ancaster-west/

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpres...n-fire-safety/

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpres...afety-scandal/

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpres...l-a-fire-risk/

In October 2015 a fire ripped through another KCTMO property, the 14 storey Adair Tower in North Kensington, causing mass panic and resulting in a number of residents taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. It is reported that had it not been for the swift actions of the London Fire Brigade the consequences of this fire and potential loss of life could have been much worse.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ensington.html

In the aftermath of the Adair Tower fire the London Fire Brigade found that the KCTMO had not been looking after the safety of residents properly and issued an Enforcement Order compelling them to improve the fire safety in the escape staircases and to provide self closing devices to all the tower block’s front doors. A further audit by the London Fire Brigade of the neighbouring Hazelwood Tower (located alongside Adair Tower) found similar breaches of health and safety legislation and an Enforcement Order was also issued for this property forcing the TMO to address the serious concerns of the Fire Brigade’s inspectors. What is shocking is that a decade ago a fatality occurred due to a fire at Hazelwood Tower and the Fire Investigation Team ordered that the grills on the fire escape staircase be covered over. This never happened and it is believed that the uncovered grills at Adair House (Hazelwood Tower’s twin block) acted like a chimney and were responsible for the accelerated spread of the fire and smoke damage.

In the last twenty years and despite the terrifying power surge incident in 2013 and recent fire at Adair Tower, the residents of Grenfell Tower have received no proper fire safety instructions from the KCTMO. Residents were informed by a temporary notice stuck in the lift and one announcement in a recent regeneration newsletter that they should remain in their flats in the event of fire. There are not and never have been any instructions posted in the Grenfell Tower noticeboard or on individual floor as to how residents should act in event of a fire. Anyone who witnessed the recent tower block fire at Shepherds Court, in nearby Shepherd’s Bush, will know that the advice to remain in our properties would have led to certain fatalities and we are calling on our landlord to re-consider the advice that they have so badly circulated.

The Grenfell Action Group predict that it won’t be long before the words of this blog come back to haunt the KCTMO management and we will do everything in our power to ensure that those in authority know how long and how appallingly our landlord has ignored their responsibility to ensure the heath and safety of their tenants and leaseholders. They can’t say that they haven’t been warned!

[afc wimbledon]

About 5 miles from my old high school, used to go drinking in the manor when I was younger, hard to think there wont have been a massive loss of life with the speed of the fire

[ToewsFan]

Very frustrating reading the blog. I would hope this tragedy will bring change and strengthen the fire safety code regulations in the UK. Terrible.

[Caged Great]

One would have to figure that with the speed at which it spread that the death count will be in the hundred plus range.

Just senseless and horrific. Whomever was in charge of the building should go to jail for negligence. This was entirely preventable.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

Didn't the highrise have a sprinkler system?

One would have to think the UK would have the same sort of fire code as we do, a resident who made it out reported the smoke/fire alarm was a light little beep sound in the hallway that couldn't be heard from inside his flat.

Absolutely horrific

[Snuffleupagus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBOTEKitADw

Live youtube channel. live chat is a nightmare

[Machiavelli]

They said at least 6 people have died, but I imagine the final numbers will be much, much higher.

This is so awful

[Tsawwassen]

So far, 6 people have been declared dead. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/london-highrise-fire-1.4159649

[OMG!WTF!]

What is this building made out of? How old is it? I don't know how stuff is built in this jurisdiction but at this height I'd assume concrete. How did it get 100% involved like that? Sadly a shooting in VA involving congress people knocked this out of the news loop.

[Tsawwassen]

Samira Lamrani told Britain's Press Association she saw a woman try to save the baby by dropping it from a window "on the ninth or 10th floor."

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/baby-thrown-from-burning-london-highrise-witness-says-1.3458430

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

Very frustrating reading the blog. I would hope this tragedy will bring change and strengthen the fire safety code regulations in the UK. Terrible.

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

One would have to think the UK would have the same sort of fire code as we do, a resident who made it out reported the smoke/fire alarm was a light little beep sound in the hallway that couldn't be heard from inside his flat.

Absolutely horrific

The construction firm that recently refurbished the west London tower that was engulfed in a deadly blaze says its work "met all required building control, fire regulation, and health and safety standards."

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/grenfell-tower-fire-latest-refurb-work-at-london-block-met-standards-construction-firm-says-1.3458370
http://www.rydon.co.uk/news/grenfell-tower

[Northendzone]

just horrible.

wow, those comments are something else.....must be quite the life some of the commentators lead

[OMG!WTF!]

I can't believe that building didn't collapse and it's stable enough for fire fighters to go inside.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I can't believe that building didn't collapse and it's stable enough for fire fighters to go inside.

You're thinking wood structures. Concrete is (in the fire protection world) rated for 90minutes+ structurally.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by jwslam

You're thinking wood structures. Concrete is (in the fire protection world) rated for 90minutes+ structurally.

Yeah I assumed concrete, post tension maybe given the vintage. But that was an 18 hour burn. Whatever steel was holding it up must have been pretty stressed. I'd just be curious to know what the structure was.