Grenfell Fire Inquiry Opens Amid 'Sense of Anger and Betrayal'

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Grenfell Fire Inquiry Opens Amid ‘Sense of Anger and Betrayal’

By DAN BILEFSKY SEPT. 14, 2017

LONDON — A major public inquiry into the deadliest fire in Britain in more than a century opened on Thursday, with the retired judge who is leading the investigation citing a “sense of anger and betrayal” among former residents of Grenfell Tower in London, which was engulfed in flames in June.

The fire, which killed at least 80 people, began early June 14 after a refrigerator on the fourth floor of the high-rise apartment building burst into flames. The blaze ignited the building’s exterior cladding, shot up the side of the tower and transformed the 24-story structure into an inferno.

The inquiry’s leader, Martin Moore-Bick, said in his opening statement that he realized that the lives of Grenfell residents had been turned “upside down,” and he vowed to uncover the truth about what had led to the tragedy.

“We are acutely aware that so many people died and that many of those who survived have been severely affected,” Mr. Moore-Bick said. “We are also conscious that many have lost everything.”

“The inquiry cannot undo any of that, but it can and will provide answers to how a disaster of this kind could happen in 21st-century London,” he added.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/world/europe/uk-grenfell-fire-london.html

[Warpy]

1. Considering how many of these cladding fed fires have happened around the world

(Dubai, Melbourne, Paris, Beijing, Brazil and it goes on and on), there should have been more careful consideration of what they were using. They went for the cheap stuff instead of the fire proof, mineral wool cladding. Mostly, they went for appearances instead of doing something to improve the safety of the building, namely a sprinkler system in hallways and stairwells and an adequate smoke abatement system in the one stairwell.

This is something that never should have happened. It's a matter of skewed priorities, corner cutting, and disregard for the concerns of the tenants, which were well known to the management company. It's also a matter of a manufacturer who knew the product was rated only for 4 story buildings, but was all too willing to sell it to clad residential towers around the world.

Floors in the building have needed to be propped up so they don't collapse. Victim recovery teams are using trowels and sieves to try to find bone fragments and teeth that might contain enough uncooked DNA for identification.

People should end up in prison for this. And there are many other buildings in the UK, high rises, with that cladding.