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London fire live updates: Blaze engulfs apartment block

DA60

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'London (CNN)A huge fire has engulfed a 27-story apartment block in West London as hundreds of firefighters attempt to evacuate the building.'

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London fire: Blaze engulfs apartment block -- live updates - CNN.com


It looks absolutely horrific.
 
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Here is a live view of it:


I do not recall ever seeing an entire building that is remotely this tall (27 stories) almost completely on fire.
 
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I saw this on the news tonight. any information on what caused it. the reports state over 100 firefighters involved
 
I saw this on the news tonight. any information on what caused it. the reports state over 100 firefighters involved

It's over 200 firefighters now.

Apparently, it started in one area on a lower floor and spread FAST.

I assume the outside of the building was lined with flammable/semi-flammable materials. I have seen high rise buildings on fire....but never spreading to the entire building.
 
It's over 200 firefighters now.

Apparently, it started in one area on a lower floor and spread FAST.

I assume the outside of the building was lined with flammable materials. I have seen high rise buildings on fire....but never spreading to the entire building.

London has many old buildings, and in the past highly flammable material was used for things like waterproofing or even binding materials. Heck not too long ago the us military used canvas tents instead of vinyl and used either diesel or jp8(which is jet fuel for helicopters) to waterproof tents. The fuel would evaporate, but you k ow it still had to make it more flammable.
 
It's over 200 firefighters now.

Apparently, it started in one area on a lower floor and spread FAST.

I assume the outside of the building was lined with flammable/semi-flammable materials. I have seen high rise buildings on fire....but never spreading to the entire building.

I hope they get the people in there out. My brother lives not too far from the WTC. He said watching people jump out of that inferno was the worst thing he ever saw in his life. He used to be a freelance shooter for UPI and the AP and photographed some pretty horrific crime scenes or massive traffic fatalities and nothing bothered him like that scene on 911
 
They were talking on the news of fears that the building might collapse.

I have no idea if that is likely...my completely layperson guess is 'no'.

Sure, the WTC collapsed, but that had thousands of gallons of jet fuel to fuel the fire (plus the impact of a 767 airliner)...this has just apartment 'stuff'.

So far, they have only mentioned two people with relatively minor injuries. It would be so wonderful if no one died in this inferno (I could not bring myself to say 'towering inferno').
 
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Please don't let there be people still trapped in there, it's completely engulfed. Shocking.
 
Please don't let there be people still trapped in there, it's completely engulfed. Shocking.

I was sort of expecting-given its in a major urban area, there would be air support such as helicopters to serve as rescue vehicles.
 
That's a mighty ugly scene. It doesn't look like there was any internal fire suppression at all.
 
That's a mighty ugly scene. It doesn't look like there was any internal fire suppression at all.

I've read that this building was built in the 1970s and was being remodeled with a new exterior and building wide heating system. Residents complained that piles of debris and garbage resulting from the renovation (including piles of mattresses) built up inside the building causing a fire hazard and exits were blocked. Sadly it sounds like their fears have been realized.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ll-tower-block-white-city-latimer-road-london

A Guardian reporter on the scene said one man could be seen waving a blanket from the window and calling for help.

People from neighbouring estates were huddled outside in their pyjamas near the flaming building, some shouting “put your head out the window” or telling the man to shout his flat numbers so they could guide the fire services to him.

Fire officers were spraying his window with water to try and douse the flames.

“There was a woman with a child. I saw her waving maybe 30mins ago,” said a man who asked not to be named. “She said I’ve got a child … I saw them spraying her window.”

Hadil Alamily told the Guardian that she saw “someone jump on fire from the top floor”. She had seen the man flashing a light in an SOS pattern. “He was screaming help, help, help but no one helped. He dashed a mattress out of the window. He was literally on fire and jumped.”
 
Here's a blog that was started by the Grenfell Action Group (tenants group for those living in that building that's currently on fire):

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


KCTMO – Playing with fire!
Posted on November 20, 2016 by grenfellactiongroup


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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/

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/ukn...rescued-from-burning-flats-in-Kensington.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.

(to be cont'd...)
 
(cont'd)

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!

Sounds like somebody wasn't being heard. :doh
 
Huge inferno devastates London tower block

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Absolutely horrific, the building had upgrading work done within the last 2 years and the speed of the spread of fire seems to have caught many poor souls out. People jumping from buildings, children trapped in burning rooms - one man who escaped talked of how there were no fire alarms going.

The emergency services are doing an amazing job but the building seems just a shell now.

London fire: Flames engulf tower block - BBC News

Condolences to those affected, R.I.P to those who lost their lives.
 
That's a mighty ugly scene. It doesn't look like there was any internal fire suppression at all.

I just listened to one survivor woken by screams to say that he heard no fire alarms. I've heard no comment this morning from survivors talking about water systems going.

The building was recently renovated and some survivors are blaming the cladding for the speed the building caught fire.

Horrible.
 
Re: Huge inferno devastates London tower block

looks pretty terrible. Good thoughts for all involved.
 
Re: Huge inferno devastates London tower block

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Clearest image (in my view) of how witnesses state that the building cladding caught fire on one side of the building to then spread across the rest of the building.
 
Re: Huge inferno devastates London tower block

Unbelievably horrific. Sounds like the property owner/manager is extremely negligent.

God bless the victims, RIP.

And I hope that those responsible are held accountable.
 
Re: Huge inferno devastates London tower block

Absolutely tragic and in this day and age (with fire suppression systems) almost preventable.

It seems a resident group had previously raised concerns: The local Grenfell Action Group had claimed, beforeand during the refurbishment, the block constituted a fire risk and residents had warned that access to the site for emergency vehicles was "severely restricted".
 
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Re: Huge inferno devastates London tower block

BBC has a longish piece up with lots of pics....makes not the slightest effort to inform us on what the cause was, because that's how so-called journalists roll now.

An old school reporter would have something to say on the cause, not saying anything is gross negligence.
 
Horrific.

Some reports are saying it was caused by a refrigerator on the first floor....and that it started around 1:30 in the morning when most people were probably in their beds. No sprinklers, no fire escapes, no fire alarms...a disaster waiting to happen. Sadly, I don't think a lot of people got out. Just horrible.
 
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