London fire: fears of people trapped as major blaze engulfs tower block latest

[uppityperson]

Source: The Guardian

What we know so far

A huge fire has engulfed a tower block in West London.
The fire broke out shortly before 1am on Wednesday at Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road near Notting Hill.
The tower is at least 24 storeys high and contains 120 apartments.
200 firefighters have been tackling the blaze with 40 engines.
A number of people have been treated for a range of injuries according to the fire brigade
There have been multiple reports of people trapped in the blaze. These have not been confirmed by police or the fire brigade.
Streets around the tower have been sealed off and residents in ther houses evacuated.
London Fire Brigade say there is no known cause at the moment for the blaze.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared the fire a “major incident”.
This news story will be updated with developments, in addition to this rolling coverage.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/14/grenfell-tower-major-fire-london-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road

---

---------------

Updates at the link, videos, photos, etc

[msongs]

1. sky news live link...

[asiliveandbreathe]

2. My mind is doing double tricks..for now just good wishes to those affected...

May there be only minor or no injuries.....but, in my heart of hearts - please let it not be true...my best to Mayor Khan and the people of London.....

[Denzil_DC]

3. It's Grenfell Tower, Latimer Road, near Notting Hill, W11

This warning was published by the Grenfell Action Group last November:

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.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playing-with-fire/

[Warpy]

7. Interesting. Kensington is one of the spiffier parts of London

Last edited Wed Jun 14, 2017, 12:39 AM - Edit history (1)

and I imagine they were getting top dollar for those flats. Sky News says the building was largely Muslim occupied, that the fire started about 1:30 AM local time. A few were still up, cleaning after the large post sunset meal, which they'd have been starting to eat around 10PM or so.

What's hard to believe is that a 27 floor building was not built with or at least retrofitted with sprinklers, at least in halls and stairwells. Someone needs to be held accountable for that.

ETA: Many tenants are blaming the rapid spread of the fire on insulated cladding installed over the concrete. They might have a point, the fire looked suspiciously like a lot of the high rise fires in places like Dubai where the stuff is in widespread use to reduce cooling costs.

Here's one for rent: https://www.openrent.co.uk/property-to-rent/london/2-bed-flat-grenfell-tower-w11/219191

[Denzil_DC]

8. It's utterly nightmarish.

That blog post is so prescient, it's terrifying.

[Matilda]

9. KCTMO?

Something to do with Kensington Council?

[Warpy]

10. Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation

One of those big corporate entities. They claim to manage over 10,000 properties in London.

[Matilda]

12. Thank you.

I think we can recognise these types everywhere - I hope they get their just reward.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. What is the "just reward" for the deaths this inevitably means?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/14/grenfell-tower-major-fire-london-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road
…

Local man and witness, Tim Downie, told the Guardian it seemed impossible that there would not be fatalities. “The sheer scale and the speed with which it spread, the closer you got, it seems like there must be casualties and fatalities.”

…

[Warpy]

16. It was far from a slum

and they just finished replacing all the windows with double glazed windows and they also installed insulated siding on the building, something that is now being blamed for the rapid spread of the fire, as the original concrete would not have done.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Yes - Kensington and Chelsea Council owned, and the KCTMO was set up to manage the properties

In the early 1990s, the tenants and leaseholders of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea decided to pursue their legal right to manage their own homes. Following two separate ballots in 1994 and 1995, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) was established on 1 April 1996 and the responsibility for managing 9,760 properties passed from The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the Tenant Management Organisation.

The Council still owns the properties and retains responsibility for strategic housing policies and homeless people. The relationship between KCTMO and the Council is governed by a Management Agreement, which covers all areas of the landlord business. Whilst KCTMO still enjoys a close working relationship with the Council, it is a completely separate company.

In 2002 KCTMO took over the responsibility for major capital works from the Council to access extra resources and funding to enable KCTMO to bring the properties up to the Decent Homes Standard.

KCTMO is managed by a Board of Directors comprising of eight elected tenant and leaseholder members, four appointed Councillor members and three independent appointed other members. The aims of the organisation are numerous, as set out by strategic objectives in a business plan each year.

KCTMO is a company limited by guarantee with members whose main residence is in Council owned or leasehold accommodation. There are currently over 4,500 members of KCTMO, and we actively encourage residents to become members. If you are interested in becoming a member, please visit the KCTMO Membership section of this website.

http://www.kctmo.org.uk/main/8/about-us

[itcfish]

42. With no Sprinkler System

in a modern building? How unusual.

[JenniferJuniper]

11. Sounds like it was a shithole - see

this article from last year

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/grenfell-tower-still-a-fire-risk/

Many of these tower blocks from the early 70's were poorly built and had tons of issues, even going way back. See my post below for the lyrics to a 1980 Clash song based on Mick Jones' experience growing up in one very much like this one.

[Warpy]

14. Here's a flat for rent

https://www.openrent.co.uk/property-to-rent/london/2-bed-flat-grenfell-tower-w11/219191

Lots of glitz and shine but no fucking sprinklers.

[JenniferJuniper]

17. Yes, it was supposedly under renovation and

that clearly looks like one of the renovated flats. But apparently major infrastructure issues remained.

Assuming the number is correct, 200 people living in a 27 story building, even allowing for some commercial ground floor tenants, isn't many. About 8 per floor?

[Warpy]

18. The management company described it as "200 homes."

so the actual occupancy was very likely much higher.

The renovations, which consisted of double glazed windows and insulated siding (which some say spread the blaze) and a new heating plant were completed last year.

They should have spent the money on retrofitting sprinklers in hallways and stair wells.

[OnlinePoker]

20. They were saying on BBC a lot of young families live there

One woman caller said her kids go to the elementary school across from the tower and there were a lot of young kids from it that went to the school.

[The King of Prussia]

35. On BBC London this morning

Suggestion was that there were between 400 - 600 occupants.

[Denzil_DC]

34. From the Department of "No Shit, Sherlock":

Note: This OpenRent Property Is No Longer Available For Rent. Description below is only for reference, and you can no longer book a viewing or contact this private landlord.

https://www.openrent.co.uk/property-to-rent/london/2-bed-flat-grenfell-tower-w11/219191

[greyl]

27. And, KCTMO Playing with fire! from same site.

Excerpt below from: https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/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.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/fire-safety-scandal-at-lancaster-west/

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/more-on-fire-safety/

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/another-fire-safety-scandal/

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/grenfell-tower-still-a-fire-risk/

[Sunlei]

4. how horrible a fire, hope everyone got out. Most must have been asleep at 1 am.

[JenniferJuniper]

5. "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)" The Clash

The towers of London, these crumbling rocks
Reality estates that the hero's got
And every hour's maked by the chime of a clock
And whatcha gonna do when the darkness surrounds?
You can piss in the lifts which have broken down
You can watch from the debris the last bedroom light
We're invisible here just past midnight

The wives hate their husbands and their husbands don't care
Their children paint slogans to prove they lived there
A giant pipe organ up in the air
You can't live in a home which should not have been built
By the bourgeois clerks who bear no guilt
When the wind hits this building this building it tilts
One day it will surely fall to the ground...

Fear is just another commodity here
They sell us peeping holes to peek when we hear
A bang on the door resoundingly clear
Who would really want to move in here?
The children play faraway, the corridors are bare
This room is a cage its like captivity
How can anyone exist in such misery?

It has been said not only here

"Allianza dollars are spent
To raise the towering buildings
For the weary bones of the workers
To go back in the morning
To be strong in the morning"

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. BBC: Fire engulfs Grenfell tower block in west London

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-40269625

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Fire engulfs Grenfell tower block in west London[/font]

[font size=4]A huge fire has engulfed a tower block in Latimer Road, west London, with eyewitnesses claiming people are trapped in their homes.[/font]

[font size=3]The fire at Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West Estate was reported at 01:16 BST and about 200 firefighters are tackling the blaze.

The Met Police said people were being treated for "a range of injuries".

The BBC's Andy Moore said the whole tower block was alight and there are fears the building might collapse.

At about 04:00 BST police said: "Residents continue to be evacuated from the tower block."

…[/font][/font]

[Matilda]

15. I'm listening to the announcers on ABC (Aust),

who are at the scene. And you can hear them choking back their tears.

No punishment is great enough for the people responsible for this.

[Baclava]

21. 'Building crumbling'

"It has burned through to its very core"
"It looks very bad, very very bad. I've never seen anything like this. It's just such a big fire.
"The whole building is just crumbling. It's just billowing black smoke."

[Baclava]

39. 'Nobody on the top three floors survived': Six dead and dozens missing

The fire that swept through a 27-storey west London tower block in just 15 minutes after a fridge exploded could be one of the worst in British history amid fears nobody on the top three floors survived.

Six people are known to have died after fire engulfed Grenfell Tower in White City at 1am today but Scotland Yard says the death toll is expected to rise significantly.

A community leader working to locate victims, who asked not to be named, revealed that nobody who lived on the top three residential floors may have survived.

He said: 'We have a list of missing people - there are so many. It's possible there are more than 50, possibly hundreds'.

Police would not confirm how many people are unaccounted for because the building is still on fire 12 hours after it started.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4601902/Huge-inferno-West-London-tower-block.html

[still_one]

22. This is awful. No high rise should be occupied that doesn't have working sprinkler systems

In the U.S. it has been required since seventies.

I hope that people were able to get out

[Puzzler]

28. Agreed. Although it seems likely that ...

... deliberate corporate malfeasance MAY have been the reason. London has very tight building regulations.

(pure speculation on my part at present)

-Puzzler

[DesertRat]

23. Heartbreaking. nt

[melman]

24. Horrifying

Only 30 people reported taken to the hospital. That sounds bad.

[IcyPeas]

25. they are afraid building might collapse (from BBC news tv)

[melman]

29. Seriously?

That's not how that works. They would have no idea that particular ad was on that particular article.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. It's not as if someone made a decision in the middle of the night to use that ad

on that page. It's automated - "put this advert somewhere on The Guardian website", and that non-page-specific decision will have been before this story even started. But since you said they shouldn't reply to you, they probably won't.

[Duppers]

30. ...

[LeftishBrit]

32. Just terrible.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. Six dead in London tower block fire, toll expected to rise - police

"We can confirm six fatalities at this time following the fire in North Kensington," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "These are very early stages and we do expect that figure to rise."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-fire-toll-idUKKBN19518X?il=0

[Denzil_DC]

36. Government "Sat On" Tower Block Fire Report For Four Years

The government has failed to act on a damning report about how 4,000 tower blocks are at risk of fire for four years.

Six people died and more than 20 hurt after Lakanal House in Camberwell caught fire in 2009.

Ronnie King, the Honorary administrative secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Fire Safety & Rescue Group, told LBC that recommendations from a report on that blaze have not been properly reviewed.

He told Nick Ferrari: "The All-Party Group were looking at the issue of fire suppression in all the tower blocks with similar designs to this.

"And we understand that there are around 4,000 tower blocks that don't have fire sprinklers fitted into them.

...

Sucessive ministers since 2013 have said they are still looking at it."

http://www.lbc.co.uk/news/london/west/kensington-chelsea/government-sat-on-tower-fire-report-four-years/

[nitpicker]

37. Tweet from David Cameron

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/election-2017-40231623


David Cameron
✔ ?@David_Cameron

Truly horrific pictures of terrible fire in my local neighbourhood. My thoughts & prayers with everyone involved & brave emergency services.

2:58 AM - 14 Jun 2017

[nitpicker]

38. Link to live updates from BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-london-40239008

[Stuart G]

40. very sad...

[inanna]

41. Salon: Residents warned that Londons Grenfell apartment was a death trap before fire

Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017 09:16 AM EST

A residential tower in London that caught fire on Wednesday, leaving six dead and 20 others in critical condition, was described as a death trap by a local activist group.

“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,” wrote the Grenfell Action Group in a blog post from November. “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 everyday management of large-scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster.”

They added, “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!”

...

http://www.salon.com/2017/06/14/residents-warned-that-londons-grenfell-apartment-was-a-death-trap-before-fire/

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. 64 people injured, including 20 in critical care

---snip---
The number of people injured in the fire has increased to 64, including 20 in a critical condition, according to an update from the London ambulance service.

Its director of operations, Paul Woodrow, said:

"Following this morning’s fire at Grenfell Tower, west London, we have treated and taken 64 patients to six hospitals across London, where 20 people are currently in critical care. Our thoughts are with everyone affected.

"Over 100 of our medics have been working hard to respond to this incident, including ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, advanced trauma teams from London’s air ambulance and those staff managing the incident in our special operations centre. Our hazardous area response teams are also on scene, who carry specialist equipment including breathing apparatus. We’ve been treating patients for a range of injuries, as well as for smoke inhalation."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/14/grenfell-tower-major-fire-london-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road?page=with:block-59411a2ae4b0bdd87e2f6ad6#block-59411a2ae4b0bdd87e2f6ad6

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. Death toll now 12, expected to rise

Met Commander Stuart Cundy said he expects the figure of 12 people dead to rise, they are not expecting to find any more survivors.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/14/grenfell-tower-major-fire-london-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road?page=with:block-59416034e4b014a733d622fe#block-59416034e4b014a733d622fe