UK - Huge fire rips through Grenfell Tower, Latimer Road, White City, London, June 2017

[Elainera]

It should have adequate fire alarms, sprinklers and fire escapes hopefully as it is brand new.

Note for Elainera :
If you Google Rydon and then go to their website you will see the projects they have undertaken with pics so you can see what the cladding looks like.

Reynobond Polyethylene Cladding

View attachment 118733 View attachment 118734

Thank you both!

It's something the average person just doesn't know much about - cladding, the materials used, their flammability and safety. I didn't even know the word "cladding" before this tragedy, and I wouldn't have given the outside of a building much thought (apart from whether it looks nice or shabby) when considering to rent a flat somewhere. This would now completely change, if I were to look for a place, as I suspect it will be for people in the UK and also elsewhere.

 

[dotr]

People living in vulnerable to fire apts, could be given some band-aid measures for the time being, such as face/gas masks, fire extinguishers, fireproof rope/ ladders, large flashlights, fire retardant blankets ect ect.?

 

[gregjrichards]

People living in vulnerable to fire apts, could be given some band-aid measures for the time being, such as face/gas masks, fire extinguishers, fireproof rope/ ladders, large flashlights, fire retardant blankets ect ect.?

Good idea. Some housing associations have put fire wardens in the buildings in the meantime too. They have started ripping the cladding off today on buildings in Camden, the sooner it is all off everywhere the better.

This tragedy is going to be a major scandal for sometime.

 

[Elainera]

Good idea. Some housing associations have put fire wardens in the buildings in the meantime too. They have started ripping the cladding off today on buildings in Camden, the sooner it is all off everywhere the better.

This tragedy is going to be a major scandal for sometime.

bbm I'm pleasantly surprised that action is already being taken. Very good!

 

[Ellmau]

"A woman thought to be missing and feared dead in the Grenfell Tower disaster has turned up alive in hospital.

Fadumo Ahmed’s picture was on posters put up on the streets around the site of the blaze as friends desperately searched for information but heard nothing.

Ms Ahmed, 32, lived on the 19th floor of the block and shared a heartbreaking call as the fire closed in, telling her mother: “I can’t get out. Goodbye.”

But it emerged yesterday the cleaner was found unconscious on the 18th floor by a fire crew who got her to safety outside.

Ms Ahmed has been in hospital since the fire eight days ago surrounded by her family, who had no idea of the appeals being made for her."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/happy-ending-among-despair-grenfell-10672570

Amazing!

Oh, that's wonderful. I'd assumed they'd identified all the hospitalised by now.

 

[Ellmau]

It isn't just homes that may have the lethal cladding. Hospitals, schools, libraries etc. could all have it as well.


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Hotels too: three Premier Inns have the cladding and used the same fitters, including one in Maidenhead.

Meanwhile every tower block in Birmingham is to be fitted with a sprinkler system regardless of whether the Government will pay, the city council said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ys-extremely-concerned-cladding-three-hotels/

 

[ScotAng]

Update: Breaking News SKy News and BBC news.

Scotland Yard announce Grenfell Tower fire started in Hotpoint Freezer.

Further announce Insulation and Tiles used in cladding failed safety tests.

Preliminary tests on the insulation samples collected from the Tower showed that they combusted soon after the test started.

Provide link soon as available
.

 

[possumheart]

Update: Breaking News SKy News and BBC news.

Scotland Yard announce Grenfell Tower fire started in Hotpoint Freezer.

Further announce Insulation and Tiles used in cladding failed safety tests.

Preliminary tests on the insulation samples collected from the Tower showed that they combusted soon after the test started.

Provide link soon as available
.

Hotpoint FF175BP

 

[ScotAng]

Links only have heading at the minute.

Fire was not started deliberately. (Stupid arses on SM).

She continues: Over 600 emergency calls were received. Some of them truly harrowing and from the Tower; one call from a resident trapped in the fire was on the 'phone for over an hour.

The Hotpoint Freezer in question has never been subject to recall. Further tests ongoing.

In the interests of transparency in the investigation and protection of integrity in her investigation. "If I find out that individuals or organisations have committed offences, then I must be in a position to prosecute, without prejudice to any proceedings.

A search of Grenfell Tower to recover all those inside and return them to their loved ones continues. The working conditions down at Grenfell Tower are difficult and distressing in many ways. Such is the devastation down at the scene, this may take until the end of the year, and there is a terrible reality that we may not find, or identify all those that died in the fire."

Over 70 CCTV images seized, public have cooperated, asks public to continue sending any and all footage they have.

 

[Elainera]

Thank you Scot!

 

[gregjrichards]

Hotpoint FF175BP

I'm shocked I thought it was going to be a Beko fridge. I've got a silver Hotpoint fridge I bought new a year and and a half ago. I'm sure it is safe but it's a worry.

 

[MsMarple]

Update: Breaking News SKy News and BBC news.

Scotland Yard announce Grenfell Tower fire started in Hotpoint Freezer.

Further announce Insulation and Tiles used in cladding failed safety tests.

Preliminary tests on the insulation samples collected from the Tower showed that they combusted soon after the test started.

Provide link soon as available
.

Here's a link:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40380584

Also, more from the results of the tests on the cladding insulation.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...-fire-police-considering-manslaughter-charges

 

[ScotAng]

I'm shocked I thought it was going to be a Beko fridge. I've got a silver Hotpoint fridge I bought new a year and and a half ago. I'm sure it is safe but it's a worry.

As did many. Don't be worrying unnecessarily, get it checked out if it'll give you peace of mind, but I understand any concerns. I had a fire in 1996. It was a nightmare. It may be over 20 years ago now, but I've never lost the fear, never will.

Whirlpool (owner of the brand) issued a product notice for customers to register their details for further info if they have a F/F with either of the two serial numbers published today. They're not recalling the appliances whilst the investigation continues.

Bad move imo.

I don't imagine anyone with these serial numbers will be comfortable having this appliance in their home. I'll hazard a guess they'll be forced to recall them sometime in the near future.

 

[ScotAng]

Here's a link:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40380584

Also, more from the results of the tests on the cladding insulation.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...-fire-police-considering-manslaughter-charges

Thank you MsM! I was too late to edit mine by the time links became available.

 

[MsMarple]

Here's a graphic from the second link in my post that shows the material over the concrete walls of Grenfell Tower.

First, next to the wall of the building is a layer of Celotex RS5000, made of polyisocyanurate (PIR). I believe this is the light colored material you see hanging on the burnt building and along the ground.

Next is a 50mm air gap which is the subject of the "chimney effect." It's designed to keep moisture from causing mold and other damage. As far as I know it's common in construction although there are many different profiles and materials used. I think we'll hear more on that in time.

Finally is the cladding itself, which is a sandwich of two sheets of aluminum with a polyethelene core.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...-fire-police-considering-manslaughter-charges

 

[gregjrichards]

"A London council is evacuating more than 800 households from tower blocks clad in a similar combustible material to Grenfell, after firefighters said they 'could not guarantee resident safety'.

Five blocks in the Chalcots Estate in Camden have similar exterior plastic panels to those fitted to the 24-storey Grenfell Tower.

Some 4,000 people are preparing to be evacuated tonight and placed in temporary accommodation, hotels or with family in the area, the council leader said.

Camden is the first London borough to evacuate buildings in the wake of the tragedy. The cheap cladding on Grenfell Tower was blamed for the fire spreading from one fourth floor flat and engulfing the entire building in the early hours of June 14.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...UATE-161-households-towers.html#ixzz4krL1cYA1

 

[gregjrichards]

"A 'resentful' Kensington resident says she plans to move out of her private block if survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire are re-housed there.

The woman, known only as Donna, shocked LBC radio host Shelagh Fogarty when she complained that 250 people who lost their homes in the fire in west London last week will not pay rent when they move into the 68 homes bought by the City of London Corporation at a luxury £2billion apartment block in Kensington Row.

Donna cited her high council tax and her service charge bill of £15,500 - before saying she would resent people who would not be expected to pay to live there.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...dent-away-Grenfell-victims.html#ixzz4krLVslTO

 

[Elainera]

"A London council is evacuating more than 800 households from tower blocks clad in a similar combustible material to Grenfell, after firefighters said they 'could not guarantee resident safety'.

Five blocks in the Chalcots Estate in Camden have similar exterior plastic panels to those fitted to the 24-storey Grenfell Tower.

Some 4,000 people are preparing to be evacuated tonight and placed in temporary accommodation, hotels or with family in the area, the council leader said.

Camden is the first London borough to evacuate buildings in the wake of the tragedy. The cheap cladding on Grenfell Tower was blamed for the fire spreading from one fourth floor flat and engulfing the entire building in the early hours of June 14.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...UATE-161-households-towers.html#ixzz4krL1cYA1

That's a good move, I hope other boroughs will follow.

Can the cladding be removed?

 

[gregjrichards]

That's a good move, I hope other boroughs will follow.

Can the cladding be removed?

Yes it can it's a slow process though. It will be interesting to see if they replace it with fire resistant cladding that should have been put up in the first place or if they will leave the building as it looked before.

 

[Shiressleuth]

So how the heck did that stuff ignite from inside the building with the concrete fabric of the building being between the kitchen and the insulation? Also, reading the info Ms.M has posted (thank you-very informative) , it appears to be the celotex insulation giving off the toxic cyanide gas not the polyethylene core in the cladding or does that produce cyanide too when it burns?