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

[gregjrichards]

According to a local animal charity 50 dogs got out of the building and people and companies are donating to help them.

 

[Britpop]

I don't really have anything to add. Just a really awful, unnecessary tragedy
Today was a beautiful sunny day in London, people should have been out enjoying that, instead they have lost everything, some even their lives. So terrible.

 

[Ironside]

According to a local animal charity 50 dogs got out of the building and people and companies are donating to help them.

That seems like a high number it would mean one dog lived in every second flat and they all got out. I wonder is the figure included pets from nearby evacuated buildings as well.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

That seems like a high number it would mean one dog lived in every second flat and they all got out. I wonder is the figure included pets from nearby evacuated buildings as well.

Especially as it could probably be assumed that there would be no dogs in Muslim households.

 

[gregjrichards]

"A cat that was saved from the blaze in West London has come to be known as the 'Grenfell Tower cat'.

Paucho, a grey-and-white pedigree, is being looked after in a nearby church.

It is believed the puss has been separated from his owners.

He is being taken care of by volunteers at St Clement's Church."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...fire-now-looked-church/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw



I'm glad Paucho survived and hope his owners did too.

 

[Jade]

Urgh we just moved into a highrise and had a alarm go off and fire trucks are here now. I literally froze thinking about how I alone while my partner is at work would take all our pets out. And at what point do you know you need to evacuate? Because no one did in my condo just now. Scary.


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During an evacuation DH & I had to leave our home with two cats and a dog loose in the car in the middle of the night.

Since then I have made sure I had a suitable crate for each of my pets, including the parrot, in which they could be transported & temporarily housed in the event of an emergency.

You could get one of those folding luggage wheelies to store away to transport your “cargo”. Use bungee cords to secure and take off bumping down the stairs with everyone.

P.S. You never know if you only have minutes-please don’t wait on others to react.

 

[dyannaON]

During an evacuation DH & I had to leave our home with two cats and a dog loose in the car in the middle of the night.

Since then I have made sure I had a suitable crate for each of my pets, including the parrot, in which they could be transported & temporarily housed in the event of an emergency.

You could get one of those folding luggage wheelies to store away to transport your “cargo”. Use bungee cords to secure and take off bumping down the stairs with everyone.

P.S. You never know if you only have minutes-please don’t wait on others to react.

Thank you. And honestly that is what I was doing, I was waiting for others to leave. Checked the balcony and all my windows and no one was leaving. I've always lived in a house so something we have never really even discussed. Sounds so foolish of me.
We are making a plan tonight over dinner.
I'm also glad you and your fur babies and hubs are ok. That must have been very scary.
Thank you!


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[animlzrule]

Especially as it could probably be assumed that there would be no dogs in Muslim households.

Plenty of Muslims where I live have dogs. Just like a lot of Muslims that I know eat pork. I think dog ownership is pretty mainstream.

 

[Ellmau]

There's a school next door to the building, which has had to close temporarily. I bet a lot of kids from the tower go/went there.

http://www.kensingtonaldridgeacademy.co.uk/

 

[Ellmau]

There's a vigil this evening outside the tower: http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/north-kensington-tower-block-fire-13181914

 

[Ironside]

Plenty of Muslims where I live have dogs. Just like a lot of Muslims that I know eat pork. I think dog ownership is pretty mainstream.

Can I ask where you live? I like in an asian area and never see any muslims with dogs. It could be a uk specific thing.

 

[gregjrichards]

"A witness to the Grenfell Towers fire has been arrested after he allegedly took pictures of a dead body and posted the images on Facebook.

The man, who has not been identified by police, apparently opened a body bag that had been left outside his flat, took images of the victim, then uploaded them in an effort to help identify him.

The Metropolitan Police said a 43-year-old man was arrested near to Latimer Road station at around 6pm on suspicion of sending malicious communications and obstructing a coroner."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-pictures-Grefnell-victim.html#ixzz4k18C7rVx

 

[Safeguard]

Thank you. And honestly that is what I was doing, I was waiting for others to leave. Checked the balcony and all my windows and no one was leaving. I've always lived in a house so something we have never really even discussed. Sounds so foolish of me.
We are making a plan tonight over dinner.
I'm also glad you and your fur babies and hubs are ok. That must have been very scary.
Thank you!


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Well it doesn't sound foolish to me. I don't wait and see what other people do, if I did I'd have spent half the winter freezing my butt off in the parking lot!

I live in a high-rise too, and the main fire alarm goes off when someone burns toast ( just about!).

It went off so many times last winter do to people cooking, or what-have-you, it seemed like once or twice a week! No one wants to drag the kids, and the dog/cat/bunnies/ ect...out in 20 below weather and stand out side freezing for hours while the building is inspected and cleared. But a lot of people do it, I've seen them standing out there at 2am, can't get back in, or use the elevator till the entire building is cleared top to bottom, we have never had a fire that damaged the building, or triggered the sprinklers. Once a dryer malfunctioned, but was contained to that laundry room.

I'm not suggesting anyone remain in their Apartment if an alarm goes off...but I live on the very end unit, right next to the stairwell. (The stairwell is like our own privet entrance heh.), so if I hear the alarm go off, I look out the door into the hallway, go out into the hall and take a look around, and if I don't smell a darn thing, at all, or see/hear anything unusual, I stay in. I do monitor the situation from my balcony, and the hall, and I have an emergency escape ladder too, like this one: ( not that I'd wait till I need it, just saying I feel better sleeping at night, cause I can't even hear the main alarm from my bedroom!).

https://www.amazon.com/ResQLadder-P...8&sr=1-6&keywords=Fire+Escape+Ladder,+6+Story

There was only one time, the dryer incident, that I smelled anything, but never saw smoke or heard anything, but do to the slight burning plasticy smell, I exited with my two bunnies, down that stair well and out the side door, we were out there for three or four hours before we could go back in, long after the dryer was removed from the building.

 

[KaaBoom]

I was just reading that. Floor plan at the DM link

That is a very unsafe layout. I don't think that would be legal anywhere in the US, except on very old buildings (over 100 years). In which case the building would have to have the old style metal fire escapes on the outside of the building. There has to be at least two escape routes.

But it sounds like this building had worse problems than that.

 

[Elainera]

That is a very unsafe layout. I don't think that would be legal anywhere in the US, except on very old buildings (over 100 years). In which case the building would have to have the old style metal fire escapes on the outside of the building. There has to be at least two escape routes.

But it sounds like this building had worse problems than that.

Looks like one stairs, two lifts (which noone uses in the event of a fire, or which won't work at that time anyway), and only one exit for 400-600 people? Do I see that correct?

No sprinkler system, no fire alarms, no fire escape ladder type things outside the building.

smh :facepalm:

Those poor poor people I feel so sad for them.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Those ladders are a good idea, Safeguard. Even one of those on every floor would be useful in a situation like this.

I'm just watching BBC and they're explaining about the "stay put" policy which is typical of high rises. Firefighters need to be able to get up the stairs and fire doors are meant to protect residents, they don't want hundreds of people charging down the stairs preventing firemen from putting the fire out so they're told to stay where they are. I'm surprised buildings this tall need only have one stairwell, that seems crazy to me.

I live in a 4 storey house and our local fire brigade came round to do a free alarm fitting service and to discuss escape routes. Plan A is using a huge/heavy wooden didgeridoo we have on the landing to smash out the bathroom window, jumping onto a flat roof and down into the garden. Everyone should think about what they'd do in case of a fire at home, especially at night.

 

[gregjrichards]

emily m‏Verified account @maitlis 5m5 minutes ago
More
One firefighter tonight tells me he expects to find up to one hundred dead in the burnt out building #GrenfellTower

Tweet from BBC Newsnight presenter

 

[Ellmau]

They just had George Clarke (architect and TV presented, who lives locally and is an eyewitness) on BBC News 24 and he said the cladding was just peeling off, and it looked like the gap behind it had acted like a chimney to spread the fire.

 

[dotr]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/grenfell-tower-fire-witnesses-1.4160618

'Frantically banging and screaming': Horror as children dropped from highrise to save them from London fire


Children dropped out of windows in a desperate attempt to save them

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/grenfell-tower-fire-witnesses-1.4160618

"People were starting to appear at the windows, frantically banging and screaming," she said. "The windows were slightly ajar, a woman was gesturing that she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch her baby.

"Somebody did. A gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby."

Joe Walsh, 58, said he saw someone throw two children out of a window from the fifth or sixth floor.

Tiago Etienne, 17, said he spotted about three children between four and eight years old being dropped from an apartment around the 15th floor.

 

[KaaBoom]

Those ladders are a good idea, Safeguard. Even one of those on every floor would be useful in a situation like this.

I'm just watching BBC and they're explaining about the "stay put" policy which is typical of high rises. Firefighters need to be able to get up the stairs and fire doors are meant to protect residents, they don't want hundreds of people charging down the stairs preventing firemen from putting the fire out so they're told to stay where they are. I'm surprised buildings this tall need only have one stairwell, that seems crazy to me.

I live in a 4 storey house and our local fire brigade came round to do a free alarm fitting service and to discuss escape routes. Plan A is using a huge/heavy wooden didgeridoo we have on the landing to smash out the bathroom window, jumping onto a flat roof and down into the garden. Everyone should think about what they'd do in case of a fire at home, especially at night.

The stay put policy is not necessarily bad, if the building is fireproof, so that the fire and smoke can be contained. Obviously this building was not. That having one stairway, bothers me. Here in the US the typical floor plan for an apartment building with two or more stories is to have a central hallway from one side of the building to the other with four or more apartments on each side, and a stairway at each end of the hall. The weak link here is that many apartment buildings don't have fire doors on the stairways. So if the fire is at the ground level, both stairways would have a lot of smoke in them.