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@ObiWomKenobi might have some information, not sure where he's stationed though.
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This is just the most sickening horror imaginable.
Some children seem to have been saved, but it sounds as if many others and the adults weren't.
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A family who are very good friends of ours virtual family, lived at the flats. So far mother, father and elder daughter are safe the youngest Jessica Urbano age 12 is still missing.
If anyone is in the area could I ask that you look for her at the rescue centres they are publishing lists and displaying them at churches and community centres where people are sheltering.
Any help would be wonderful. -
Apparently none of the anti-fire systems went off in the tower, no alarm, nothing. Awful.
What systems do you think exist?
In my tower we have a single smoke alarm per property. During testing it's obvious it's loud enough to be heard within a property but not beyond.
There is no central fire alarm that I know of. In my twenty years as a resident there has never been a fire drill.
We have dry risers, but they are inspected infrequently. During the fire in our building the first thing the fire brigade did was run up and down the building to check visually that no one had stolen the brass fittings and that the riser was fit to use.
There are no hoses on our floors, and the riser would be dry in any case.
There is a single fire escape staircase, which the fire brigade would want kept clear of residents as they need to go up it.
The extent of repairs to compartmentalization was to use expanding foam to seal gaps left by years of maintenance work. And a bit of MDF board near the chimney/service riser in the kitchen (near, not around).
As residents we are told there is no money for improvement. We even have scaffolding around the towers to catch the bus of concrete falling off.
Nearly all tower blocks built in the sixties across the UK are like this.
There is nothing special about Lancaster West or the Brentford Towers.
All of these old blocks had poor fire safety designed in, which overly elites on compartmentalization which has been degraded by poor maintenance.
All of this is exacerbated by councils seeking off the estates to part private entities to manage.
With a fixed income, the only scope for profit is to reduce the costs of maintenance.
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One of the newspapers had a link to this article on the risks presented by these kinds of cladding if not appropriately installed. Makes for chilling reading
http://www.probyn-miers.com/perspective/2016/02/fire-risks-from-external-cladding-panels-perspective-from-the-uk/ -
This is exactly why the word profit raises alarm bells when it comes to anything that should be a basic right - education, health, some sort of shelter.
This country in general seems to prioritise people's right to make a profit off others so much more than people's wellbeing and safety, and this is the human cost of that attitude.
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I always felt quite safe in the tower block I grew up in, we had two fire escapes on opposite sides of the building... South Westminster tho', so they probably spent a bit more cash on it than a lot of other places... We were on the fifth floor too, not far to escape in an emergency...
It's unbelievable that this kind of cladding satisfies building regs if it's so flammable in these situations... So fucked...
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5th floor is great. Within reach of a ladder unit.
When I looked into right to buy, I was advised that I could not get a standard mortgage for properties above the 8th floor due to the fire risk.
That speaks volumes. When I did investigate mortgages, I discovered it's in the same risk class as canal boats. So a flat above the 8th floor is in the same risk category as a property, as something that can sink and whose build quality is largely unregulated.
I still feel safeish. You have to. Anyone in a tower block didn't have much day in the matter. I'm very lucky to now be paid enough that my deposit savings are coming on alright and I should have moved out within a year.
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If anyone is in the area could I ask that you look for her at the rescue centres they are publishing lists and displaying them at churches and community centres where people are sheltering.
Do you know where these are? I can go and look. I was also going to donate some supplies.
Anyone know how to find out?
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It's a small but vocal bunch. Most people are cool as fuck.
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11 tower blocks in Hulme, Manchester, reclad 2010-2013 with a mix of terracotta and "aluminium-coated cladding". I've found articles identifying the terracotta product, but no product names for the alu cladding.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1077625
http://www.housingexcellence.co.uk/news/hulme-high-rise-project-reaches-completionPlanning application isn't viewable online any more.
Overcladding of existing tower blocks and environmental works to grounds
Hornchurch Court Bonsall Street Hulme Manchester M15 6DS
Ref. No: 093826/FO/2010/S1 | Validated: Fri 23 Jul 2010 | Status: Decided
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I think just about every space is being used churches, community centres with talk of opening westway shopping centre for this afternoon we trying to cover as much ground as possible but so many people are affected and so spread out it is difficult to get a handle on it, if you could look to refuges close to you it would be brilliant. So many people are the position as us tha it is pretty chaotic.
Emyr
Sumo
rhb
Oliver Schick
citron
Velocio
spindrift
Slascha
tbc
ObiWomKenobi
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Howard
Well_is_it
Greenbank
Manson7am-
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@Platini
I really don't know, matey has been a fireman in London for 30 years now and he keeps a pretty close eye on these kinds of things... Says the fire was a pretty routine call out and shouldn't have got out of control... Don't think it happened on his watch but he did post some pictures so he was obviously up there, he's been at Chelsea fire station for years so it's pretty much his patch...