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

[katydid23]

It's entirely rumour AFAIK, mostly being circulated on Twitter.

ETA that the rumour is also being reported on the fire's page on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire

I heard an interview on Sky News, with a survivor, named Mohammed. He said he heard a loud bang, and he opened his door and his neighbor said his fridge exploded and was on fire. He ran and knocked on doors.

I wouldn't have posted it if it was totally unconfirmed rumour. Although, who knows if he was telling an accurate account?

 

[wfgodot]

“I spoke to my friend at about 3.30am He was saying ‘help me’. My friend who escaped went to one flat and he went to another. They lost each other. I have been friends with them since I was six-years-old, I don’t know what to do. I am waiting. I hope he is alive.

"I last spoke to [Mohammed] at 3.30am. He was saying please help me. Please tell my family I love them. He sounded very scared.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ondon-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I heard an interview on Sky News, with a survivor, named Mohammed. He said he heard a loud bang, and he opened his door and his neighbor said his fridge exploded and was on fire. He ran and knocked on doors.

I wouldn't have posted it if it was totally unconfirmed rumour. Although, who knows if he was telling an accurate account?

What made me consider it entirely rumour is that there were very different accounts about which floor the exploding fridge was on. Some reports said the 4th, others the 11th.

Also, a few hours ago the reports were that the fire started in the stairwell on the 2nd floor. It seems that residents have been expressing concerns for some time about the amount of rubbish being dumped by residents in stairwells and on landings at the foot of the building so it's possible the fire started there.

Grenfell Tower Action Group website: https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/

 

[wfgodot]

Fire commissioner, Dany Cotton, is giving another statement to the press.

She says a structural engineer is monitoring the safety of the building. It remains safe for fire crews to enter, she says. She can’t speculate on the cause because of the “dynamic nature” of the incident.
---
Cotton can’t give any details on the number of victims. She says fire crews are making “steady progress” up the building. She says they have reached the 21st floor

.https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ondon-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road

 

[wfgodot]

Two residents from Grenfell Tower have been in touch to say they are safely on holiday. They did not give their names but gave an address in the tower and their ages as 44 and 54. They claim the council was warned about fire concerns.

‘We are alive and well, but not able to report ourselves as alive because the emergency phone number is very slow, and the town hall number is also constantly busy. During the refurbishments we already knew that a disaster like this could happen anytime, but corruption thrives at an alarming level in K&C. It’s all about whitewashing money through “projects” at the cost of people’s lives. We are abroad on holidays, lucky escape.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ondon-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road

 

[gregjrichards]

"Families have begun the desperate search for loved ones that have gone missing after a huge inferno engulfed a tower block in west London.

Moments after cheating death and escaping Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, White City, relatives are now faced with the prospect of having to search for those who have gone missing during the ensuing chaos.
Social media campaigns have been launched by relatives of several young people caught up in the fire who are currently unaccounted for.

Natalie Garcia tweeted to say her 12-year-old cousin little cousin Jessica Urbano was missing, as is teenager Nurhuda El-Wahabi.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-hunt-missing-loved-ones.html#ixzz4jxvstWEa

 

[katydid23]

What made me consider it entirely rumour is that there were very different accounts about which floor the exploding fridge was on. Some reports said the 4th, others the 11th.

Also, a few hours ago the reports were that the fire started in the stairwell on the 2nd floor. It seems that residents have been expressing concerns for some time about the amount of rubbish being dumped by residents in stairwells and on landings at the foot of the building so it's possible the fire started there.

Grenfell Tower Action Group website: https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/

Strange thing to me was that the huge Oakland warehouse fire, last December, which killed 36 people at a music event, was initially thought to have been started by a refrigerator fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Oakland_warehouse_fire


It is not known what caused the fire. An initial report that it was started by a refrigerator[18] was rejected by agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, although agents left open the possibility that it was started by another electrical appliance or component.[2] Max Ohr, creative director of the artist collective, said the collective had reported electrical problems to the owner of the building.[19] The fire began on the first floor and spread quickly, and individuals on the second floor were initially unaware of it.[2

 

[wfgodot]

Jamalvatan believed the fire started on the floor above his third floor flat, and his mother got out very fast. “She smelt the fire and got out of the house. She could see stuff coming from the floor above her so she was panicking.”

He added that the fire appeared to spread quickly up the cladding, which he described as “plastic” and which may be PVC, on the outside of the building.

“The fire hit the outside of the building... and as soon as it did that it went straight up,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ondon-apartment-block-white-city-latimer-road

 

[Buttons]

My heart is broken. :cry:

According to Good Morning Britain, the cladding used on the building was not fire safe and has actually been banned in Dubai, where similar incidents have occurred and been worsened by the use of the material. The building had been refurbished to add the cladding just last year.

 

[katydid23]

what is cladding? what is the purpose of it?

eta: I googled images of the cladding on this building. It looked great. Too bad it was such a fire hazard. :cry:

 

[CoverMeCagney]

This is just awful, DM reporting "dozens feared dead"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4601902/Huge-inferno-West-London-tower-block.html

 

[Buttons]

what is cladding? what is the purpose of it?

It's an outer covering of material on a building, sometimes used to insulate the building or protect it from the elements. It's often used for aesthetic reasons, too.

 

[gregjrichards]

My heart is broken. :cry:

According to Good Morning Britain, the cladding used on the building was not fire safe and has actually been banned in Dubai, where similar incidents have occurred and been worsened by the use of the material. The building had been refurbished to add the cladding just last year.

The company that put the cladding up has a huge scandal on its hands along with the landlord and council. I can see a number of lawsuits happening. The building should have had a sprinkler system.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

what is cladding? what is the purpose of it?

It's like a fascia / panels covering the external walls, probably put on as part of the refurb to make it look nicer and less dated. Why the hell that isn't fire proof I don't know.....

 

[Buttons]

Oh, god. Someone dropped their baby from the ninth or tenth floor as their apartment was engulfed in flames, thankfully a member of the public was able to help and catch the baby. :cry:

 

[katydid23]

Oh, god. Someone dropped their baby from the ninth or tenth floor as their apartment was engulfed in flames, thankfully a member of the public was able to help and catch the baby. :cry:

Oh My Lord. What an excruciating experience for that parent---who has probably passed....:rose:

Thank Goodness the baby was caught.

 

[gregjrichards]

It's like a fascia / panels covering the external walls, probably put on as part of the refurb to make it look nicer and less dated. Why the hell that isn't fire proof I don't know.....

The Director of the company who put the cladding up said on Good Morning Britain that it does meet fire regulations. It was eyewitnesses that said it did not because of how quickly the fire spread.

 

[scandinavian girl]

this is heartbreaking and I can´t even imagining the horror, the more witnesses I hear the worse it gets. If it is negligence in safety...........

 

[CoverMeCagney]

It is going to be a long and difficult process identifying people. The building houses 600 residents most of whom will have been asleep in bed. With no shared fire alarm system it will have been too late by the time some woke up and realised.

If it's a council property presumably someone will have a list of all (official) tenants, but there will be others there too and they won't all be recognisable...

What a nightmare.

 

[katydid23]

I wonder how many have already registered as survivors. There are 50 who went to hospitals. I wonder how many made it out themselves and were safe?