Grenfell Inquiry: London Fire Brigade’s Water ‘Could Have Reached Top Floor’

London fire brigade did not know how to properly deploy water equipment that could have doused flames all the way to the top of Grenfell tower and potentially saved lives. In what a lawyer for bereaved people and survivors said was “an extraordinary possibility to have to contemplate four years after the fire”, an expert witness has found that water from a ground monitor – a nozzle on a fixed base – beside the tower was capable of reaching the 15th floor and that all the available aerial pumps were capable of launching water to the top of the building. But neither happened “because of a fundamental misunderstanding of the technical features of water supply,” said Danny Friedman QC. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/20/grenfell-inquiry-hears-london-fire-brigade-water-could-have-reached-top-floor 

LFB ‘Closed-Minded And Parochial’ Before Grenfell

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) was “unacceptably closed-minded”, “isolationist” and “parochial” in the years before the Grenfell Tower fire and was beset by a culture that left it unable to cope with an emergency “beyond the normal or standard fire”, lawyers acting for bereaved and survivors said. The claim came as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry heard opening statements for the section of its investigation focusing on the LFB’s actions in the years before the blaze. Speaking for one group, Danny Friedman QC said that the blaze saw the brigade face “the limits of its competence”. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/lfb-closed-minded-and-parochial-before-grenfell-and-unable-to-cope-with-emergency-beyond-normal-fire-lawyers-for-community-say-72584?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

Fire Brigade’s Readiness For The Grenfell Tower Fire Was “Gravely Inadequate”

The London fire brigade’s readiness for the Grenfell Tower fire was “gravely inadequate” and fewer people would have died if it had been better prepared, a long-awaited public inquiry report into the disaster that killed 72 people has concluded. The report into the biggest single loss of life in London since the second world war also ruled that the building had been refurbished in breach of safety regulations and that contrary to the evidence so far of the cladding panel manufacturer, Arconic, “the principal reason why the flames spread so rapidly up the building” was its aluminium composite panels and the “melting and dripping of burning polyethylene” Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/28/grenfell-inquiry-finds-fire-brigade-gravely-ill-prepared-for-blaze

Government Under Pressure Over Stay Put Tactic For Tower Block Fires

A new report puts pressure on Government to outline alternatives to Stay Put for fires in tower blocks in the wake of what the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) damns as “decades of failed policy”. London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton has challenged Government to take stronger action and undertake urgent research on ‘buildings that fail’ on fire safety which leaves Stay Put advice no longer viable. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-under-pressure-over-stay-put-tactic-for-tower-block-fires/

'Beds In Sheds' Fires Cost 13 Lives

Thirteen people have died and 69 seriously injured in fires that broke out in makeshift homes across the capital, London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said. Since 2009, there have been 438 fires in sheds and outbuildings, where people were living in "unsafe" conditions. Five people died in 2010-11 and four lives were lost in both 2012 and 2013. LFB said it has taken action against landlords in the capital, serving about 200 enforcement notices. There were 96 fires in 2009-10, which dropped to 85 the following year but jumped to 104 in 2011-12. In 2012-13, 77 fires were tackled by the brigade while the figure rose to 97 last year.  Read more on the BBC website.